


What Is Insane?

by SweetVennum64



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-02-27 19:22:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18745495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetVennum64/pseuds/SweetVennum64
Summary: A man like him should never have the audacity to fall in love with Bonnie Bennett





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Of course this is a Bamon story because I dont think I'll ever let them go. I hope my Bamon lovers are still here with me and hopefully you enjoy this treat. As always, reviews and suggestions are welcome. I’m really new to this platform so I take any help offered while getting used to this

He isn't sure if he would call it karma or if he would say he's just a glutton for punishment.

Or maybe he just got the shitty hand in this card game called life…or in his case, animated death.

Simply speaking though? He's just insane. Full on bat shit crazy, because any sane person wouldn't continuously fall in love with women he knows he can never have.

First of all, Katherine? Come on. He was just too damn eager for her attention to begin with.

He was so thirsty for it, hanging onto her every word while Stefan ate away at her ego by playing the nonchalant card.

Stefan had made her work for his affections while Damon cut his own heart out and served it to Katherine on a silver platter, decorative garnishing and all.

She'd easily become bored with Damon, who could blame her? But instead of telling him that, she'd decided to amuse herself by playing ping pong with both of them.

Katherine had flipped and twisted his feelings to her advantage for decades until his soul burned like acid.

She'd done irreparable damage to his psyche and he thought he'd never feel again.

And then he'd met Elena. His take two, if you will. And what a kick in the balls that had been. Life itself had felt so sorry for him that it had given him a do over. He couldn't possibly fuck this one up could he?

This time, instead of being the bleeding-heart step stool he had been for Katherine, he'd decided to play the Devil may care bad boy for Elena.

Well, he wasn't necessarily playing a role. It's just that life had chiseled away at his heart enough to the point that he'd almost forgotten what it was like to fall in love. No one could hope to get close enough to try since he'd built up a century and a half worth of _gooey_ _feelings_ barriers by the time he'd met Elena.

And she'd looked _just_ _like_ Katherine and it had made him feel the phantom stutter of a heartbeat that had long become a ghost of a memory.

Maybe Life hadn't felt sorry for him. Maybe Life felt bad for screwing him over. And maybe Elena was Life's apology.

Hope is a bitch.

He'd been too reckless, too careless, and too much of a flight risk for Elena and his own inability to filter and process human-like emotions had caused him to lose the girl to his brother…again.

So it turns out, he'd done a fine job of fucking up take two after all and maybe he should have expected it.

He should have seen it a mile away. Stefan had been The Golden Child since birth. Why would the odds suddenly be on Damon's side now?

Hope is a fucking bitch.

And apparently Life is the bitchiest of all, which is why he's sitting in his favorite leather armchair trying to drink himself to death right now to avoid the third heartbreak of his life.

He's a good-looking guy, no one can argue that.

He'd been confident at first with Katherine and he had even held on to a glimmer of hope with Elena that she'd reciprocate his affections.

But this time? He can honestly say that this time around he knows he doesn't stand a snowballs chance.

A person like him should never have the audacity to fall in love with Bonnie Bennett.

But here he is. In all his glory. Hopelessly and unwaveringly, head over heels in love with her.

And he thinks he has been for quite a while. Maybe even as far back as when he'd thought he was still in love with Elena.

When he first met Bonnie he'd immediately pegged her as the judgy little unremarkable best friend of the love of his life. She was always giving him the side eye or insulting him or just straight up ignoring him whenever she felt the need and it irritated the hell out of him because when was the last time he wasn't able to use his looks or his charm or his gigantic… _ego_ …to seduce his way in or out of any situation?

Bonnie would never let him get away with anything and she always made him own up to his shit and it got under his skin so deep that it felt like a needle to the vein and the poison of choice? _Feelings_.

She'd forced him to feel things he never thought he'd have to willingly feel again with the whole flip switch thing.

She'd made him feel ashamed, unworthy, and worst of all…guilty.

Bonnie made him look in the mirror and evaluate himself. This tiny little five foot two witch who he'd claimed to not give a flying fuck about…turned out to be the one to make him actually want to give a fuck.

If forced to pinpoint the exact when or how, he's not entirely sure he could do it. It's like one day he was listening to her call him a self-centered asshole who cares only about himself, and all he could seem to register was the smell of the strawberry flavored Chapstick she'd worn on her lips and how he'd really, really wanted to lick it off.

Maybe somewhere in the deepest, darkest parts of his subconscious he'd known that the soft honey scent that she'd always carried around with her would go instantly hotter when he was around.

And only when he was around did she smell like fire and cinnamon.

It was most likely because she was mere seconds away from skinning him alive, but still, that spicy scent of hers was custom made for him.

He'd never really had anything or _anyone_ for that matter, to call his very own so the first time he'd caught a whiff of her all riled up and angry because of something he had done, he was instantly addicted to it and wanted more.

Which is how he'd ended up on the ass end of witchy brain explosions almost twice a week.

The way her breath would hitch and her plump upper lip would curl slightly and the way her eyes would darken as she focused only on him had given him a dark satisfaction that was almost sadistic in a way.

Maybe that's why he didn't recognize it as love at first. It had felt too antagonistic way back then. Too heated. Too…dangerous.

It was almost like he'd wanted to fuck her and kill her at the same time which had left him feeling more than a little confused. And angry.

How dare she tilt her defiant little chin up at him, meeting his death glare head on with one of her own anytime he was bold enough to get in her face?

Her warm emerald eyes burning into his icy ones, unblinking and daring him to make a move. Her heartbeat jumping deliciously in her chest had given her away on more than a few occasions, but her eyes never wavered.

No matter the subject of their argument of the week, she pushed him just as hard as he pushed her.

Although he hated to admit it, he respected her from day one. She was the only one in that town who could handle him and constantly showed him that.

She'd kept him on his toes, made him rethink his approach. Made him second guess his actions.

"If you hate me so much, why did you give me your blood to save my life?"

He remembers her asking him this what seems like ages ago and he honestly hadn't had an answer for it at the time so he'd just spouted out something that she'd expect him to say while his brain remained perplexed.

He didn't know why he'd saved her life that night. He'd only known that she _could_ _not_ die.

Even back then, when her entire existence was supposed to be a burden on his life, he knew he'd feel empty without it.

He hadn't even hesitated.

He remembers crouching down next to her crumpled body on that cave floor and straining his hears, praying for a heartbeat and when he'd heard the tiny but strong thrum in her chest it had made ripples run through his own.

He remembers sliding his hand under her, gently cradling her neck while he bit into his wrist and poured his life force down her throat and when he'd felt her stir under his fingers as his essence made her stronger he'd actually felt like he'd accomplished something.

He'd given, and she'd taken willingly and the feel of her lips against his wrist made him grit his teeth and the moment her eyes opened he'd ripped his arm away from her and put space between them.

She'd smelled like him for days after that incident and it had done so many things to him. He couldn't keep his brain from repeating _minemineminemineminemine_ over and over again and he wasn't sure he had even wanted to.

After that day, their dynamic had changed. He'd gone from wanting to hurt her to just wanting to irritate her to no end so that she wouldn't forget him.

She'd given him the starring role in some of her most emotional moments and he wanted to keep that spot. He never wanted to fade to the background again.

So when the team was gearing up to battle their latest freak of the week, he would volunteer to team up with Bonnie.

She'd given him the side eye, predictably, and he'd just given her his best angelic face.

"What are you doing?" She'd asked him when Jerry the Incompetent Hybrid was finally laying headless at their feet.

"What do you mean?"

His eyebrows were furrowed as he looks up at her from where he'd been crouched next to the body going through the pockets.

He stands up, waving the wad of bills and silver flask he'd stolen from the mans inner jacket pocket.

"Oh come on. It's not like he's gonna be looking for it!"

He rolls his eyes, opening the flask and takes a hit. Grimacing because, what the fuck? Vodka? He knew that guy was a pussy.

Bonnie just looked at him like he was a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

"No…stealing from a dead person is what I would expect from you. But this?" She waves her hand between the two of them. "Volunteering to work with me? That's a sign of the apocolypse."

He nods because. Yeah. She's got a point.

"God knows we don't need an apocalypse." He says while loading the body and assorted attachments into his trunk. "But you gotta admit, Bon. We make a hell of a team."

And they did.

That should have been clue number one.

No matter how much they swore they hated each other and couldn't stand to be around one another, it was almost like they were too in sync with each other when it was time to get serious and get shit done.

When she moved, he moved. He'd give her a look and she'd know how to execute off of that look alone. They were the only ones who got shit done.

"And it doesn't hurt that you're kinda hot when you're being all bad ass and witchy."

It was the first time he'd tried to flirt with her and a shocked thrill ran through his body when he'd heard her heartbeat speed up a little and her breath hitch even though her face told him that she was annoyed and a little grossed out.

In their earlier days he had been pretty sure that the only thing Bonnie Bennett could ever want from him was his head on a stick, no sexual undertones whatsoever, unfortunately. But he had also been very aware of the fact that…well, she hadn't killed him yet.

So maybe he hadn't paid enough attention to the changes in her body when they'd get into their weekly heated spats. Had there been something way back then that he'd missed? A hint of foreplay in their constant bickering? Maybe a bit of hunger in her eyes hiding behind the disdain that always sat proudly at the surface when dealing with him?

Possibly.

Or maybe he's just imagining things where there are none because he refuses to believe that his luck with women could be this tragic.

The more realistic reason as to why Bonnie hasn't skinned him and made him into a coat is probably because his connections to Stefan and Elena granted him some sort of immunity from the more murderous forms of wrath he knows Bonnie to be capable of.

Or maybe he did die all those centuries ago when his father killed him and he's actually in Hell, forced to repeat a vicious cycle of heartbreak for eternity.

He rolls his eyes, slightly annoyed at himself for how dramatic he's being.

For all the times he's condemned Stefan's broody forehead, Damon's own heart is just as broody but were Stefan's worries are crowding in the form of worry lines and permanently creased eyebrows, Damon's scars are hidden safely behind his breastbone where he likes them.

Speaking of Sir Broods-A-Lot, Stefan comes strolling in the front door smelling like sex and Elena and Damon's stomach rolls.

He looks down at the brown liquid in his glass and grimaces. Maybe drinking two bottles of bourbon back to back wasn't such a good idea.

Stefan comes to stand beside him, eyeing him warily. Scanning Damon's form, from his tousled black mop of hair to his wrinkled, deep purple Armani button up, open and exposing his chest, and down to his bare feet resting on the matching leather armoire.

Damon keeps his eyes on the fire burning in the fireplace in front of him, smirking with the side of his mouth that Stefan can't see, and lets his brother put the pieces together.

Stefan has watched Damon for two lifetimes and he thought he knew everything there was to know about his big brother. But finding out he was in love with Bonnie sorta blindsided him.

He'd been convinced that he and his brother had been cursed to share the same girl for eternity until Damon and Bonnie returned from the other side three months ago.

The way Damon's eyes would linger on Bonnie when she wasn't paying attention. Or the delighted glint in his eyes when Bonnie had stopped flinching away from his touch, which he seemed to find every excuse to do. And the way he would always find a way to bring her up in a conversation all just screamed that something was up.

He seemed lighter and more at ease when he'd come home, and Stefan knew that look. The darkness that always followed his brother around was usually only lifted by some form of love.

So, when he'd cornered Damon the other day after he'd returned to the Boarding House smelling like honey and magic, Damon had no choice but to fess up.

And after days and days of bitching and moaning and coercion, Stefan had all but forced Damon to reveal his feelings to Bonnie.

Judging from Damon's physical appearance alone though, he can tell that things hadn't gone as planned this afternoon. He can't say that he's all that surprised.

"What did she say, Damon?" And he sounds resigned.

Damon looks up at his baby brother, feigning an innocent look. "Whatever do you mean, Brother?"

Stefan rolls his eyes and plucks the glass from Damon's fingers before carelessly slapping at his brothers toes until he finally relents and moves his feet to the floor so that Stefan can take the space on the armoire across from him.

Stefan takes a slow swig from his stolen glass of bourbon before he glares at Damon through slitted eyes. "You know what I mean."

Damon sighs and drops his head to rest on the back of his armchair, eyes on the ceiling because he doesn't care to see the pitying look that Stefan is no doubt wearing.

"I never got the chance to tell her." His voice sounds bland to his ears.

Stefan stays quiet, a clear request for more information.

Damon runs his fingers through his hair for the hundredth time to brush it off of his forehead. He can't even remember the last time he'd had a haircut so it's constantly falling in his eyes, the back strands tickling his neck and brushing against his shoulders.

He could lie and say that he hasn't had time to think about something as mundane as a haircut when there is always a Big Bad around the corner waiting to kill or steal someone he cares about.

Or he can be honest with himself.

It was about a month ago and he doesn't remember why he and Bonnie had been arguing on that particular occasion, but he does remember that it had been one of their more violent arguments. To the point where it had gotten physical.

He'd wrapped one of his hands around Bonnie's throat and pinned her to his living room wall, growling in her face with his fangs extended and lethal and for some reason, Bonnie's fingers ended up buried in the hair at the back of his head.

He hadn't even registered it at first, being too busy salivating over the feel of the vein on her throat jumping wildly under his thumb.

But then she'd tightened her grip, bending his head back slightly. He'd hissed through his teeth, eyes slammed shut.

"I'm gonna give you three seconds, Vampire." She'd whispered sweetly against the shell of his ear. "Take your hands off of me now …or I'll drop you to your knees."

If she'd felt him shiver under her hands she hadn't let on about it.

And he had barely registered what the hell she'd said because he'd been blindsided with such a violent rush of arousal that he'd almost begged her to put him on his knees.

She'd tugged against the thick strands of his hair once more when he hadn't budged, and he finally unwrapped his fingers rom her neck, trying hard to swallow the low groan rumbling in the back of his throat.

And when she'd finally released him and shown herself to the door, flicking her hair behind her shoulders and swaying her hips, he could do nothing but watch.

She hadn't even bothered to spare him a second glance as she slammed the door behind her, heels of her black leather booties hammering the pavement of his driveway as she'd made her way to her car.

"Fuck…" He'd whispered to himself as he lightly tousled the growing strands of hair at his nape, inhaling the ghost of cinnamon in his nostrils.

So yeah, maybe he was hoping to get the chance to have Bonnie run her fingers through his hair under more pleasant circumstances eventually.

He lifted his head, finally meeting Stefan's eyes as he sat patiently waiting for his brother to finish the story.

"What do you want me to say, Stefan? Bonnie and I have never had the best of relationships, okay?"

He gets up then, bare feet sinking into the plush carpet as he goes to fill himself another glass.

"So I went over there to profess my _undying_ _affections_ , as you so eloquently put it, and it ended in an argument before I ever got to tell her." He reclaims his seat and crosses his feet at the ankles."Pretty par for course if you ask me." He says, shrugging before taking a sip of bourbon.

"And can you honestly say that you didn't deliberately try to pick a fight with Bonnie because you're a coward and you're too afraid to hear what her answer might be?"

He's got a knowing look on his face and all of a sudden Damon wants to punch him.

"Fuck you." He deadpans and Stefan chuckles.

“I know that you and Bonnie got off to a rough start but for the past couple of months or so, I have seen a steady improvement in your relationship. I mean, she can actually stand being in the same room with you for more than five minutes at a time now."

Damon glares at his brother, watching him fight against the smile playing at the edges of his lips.

"You dick, you're enjoying my pain aren't you?"

Stefan finally gives in and lets the smile spread across his lips. "Well…I wouldn't necessarily use the word _enjoy_. But it is a relief to not be in love with the same woman for a change."

Damon gives his brother a look, _yeah_ _right_.

Stefan ducks his head. "Okay, okay. Maybe it is a _little_ funny." He lets his smile soften. "But that still doesn't change the fact that I honestly believe you do deserve happiness too, Damon."

And Damon just stares at his brother, searching his eyes for any humor or mirth and finds none, whatsoever.

"Holy Hell." Damon groans. "I'm gonna need to be way drunker than this if you're about to psychoanalyze me."

This time Stefan laughs outright, full and hearty and Damon can't help his answering grin as he watches Stefan stand to grab the alcohol decanter from the drink cart.

"Well…I guess you better drink up then, Brother."


	2. Chapter 2

Three hours later he's freshly showered and stripped of the horrible embarrassment of his first failed attempt at expressing _feelings,_ and heading over to Bonnie's for his second attempt.

He usually fucks the second chance up worse than the first so he's not really expecting much different this time either.

He'd tried calling her beforehand but of course she's ignoring him. He'd even tried texting her but she'd left him on _read_ to let him know he's being ignored.

He remembers when Bonnie left to go spend time with her family in Florida last year and it was just him and Stefan and Elena living in their everlasting soap opera of a love triangle and he was just itching for something new. A challenge. He couldn't shake the fact that he had felt like something was missing. The pit that always sat in his stomach felt a little sadder. Lonelier And he was thinking it was because his brother and Elena had just made up for the _billionth_ time and so they were fucking like bunnies every 5 minutes.

Some part of him knew he was kidding himself back then. His heart had already known what his subconscious was slowly figuring out.

So when Bonnie had walked in Elena's front door at the end of that summer and he'd heard her startled inhale and her raspy voice.

" _Ew, gross"_ She'd mumbled behind Elena's back because he'd been caught shamelessly invading Elena's space and whispering sweet nothings into her ear, he'd ignored the slow, agonizing swoop he'd felt in the pit of his stomach and let his smirk turn devilish over Elena's shoulder to glare at Bonnie's deeply tanned...golden brown body.

Jesus.

"There's the judgy little witch I loathe. Back from your Witch Convention?"

And she'd just rolled her eyes and muttered. "I'll come back later" to Elena and turned toward the door.

He'd panicked at being ignored and dismissed. He didn't like it and like a string linking his body to hers, he'd followed her out the front door and to her car, leaving Elena standing in her kitchen wondering what the hell?

She'd made it to her drivers side door by the time he'd caught up with her and he'd grabbed her shoulder, spinning her to face him before she was able to get the door open.

She shrugged him off and it didn't sting at all. It didn't.

"What the hell do you want, Damon?

Well…he wasn't sure. He saw her leaving and the next thing he knew he was running after her.

"Don't tell me you didn't miss this as much as I did while you were away." And he tries to keep the emotion out of the question.

"What? You being a constant pain in my ass? Not even a little bit, now move."

And she was turning her back to him again. And. Just. No.

He circles around to squeeze between her and her car door because what if he lets her get in the car and then this whole dismissal thing becomes a trend? Then what the hell would he do?

Irritation is all over her face and she smells spicier.

"Oh my God, Damon what the hell? I'm dirty and I'm tired and I just want to go home okay? I don't have time for this. It was so peaceful this summer without you around buzzing in my ear and irritating me and being a general dick all the time. And I'd like to keep it that way, now leave me alone…before I _make_ you."

He knows he sucks at expressing himself. He knows he doesn't know what to do with half of the feelings dancing around inside his body. Everything he feels, he feels it _desperately._ So his actions are always over exaggerated. And when he'd gotten Bonnie's attention it had been through anger. So he latched on to that revelation and he gave it everything he'd had and he'd overdone himself.

But he couldn't let her go.

"Okay, okay, okay, look." And his hands are raised in surrender. "Fine. You can go. But, I just missed you is all. Believe it or not, I was bored without you." He lowers one hand. "Truce?"

She looks at his hand like its gonna jump out and bite her any second. Crosses her arms.

"Come on. I can't have my trusty little sidekick mad at me, now can I? Who's gonna protect my sweet little ass?"

She rolls her eyes. "You're ridiculous."

"And you like it."

She notices when his voice goes a little raspier. His eyes a little more serious.

He thought maybe if he said it to her enough, it'd become true. That's the way he'd learned it, anyway. His entire acquaintance with love, or its many variations, is based on emotional manipulation after all.

"Damon. Get out of my way."

"Not until you say it. _Truce."_ and he holds his hand out to her again. Willing her to take it.

She looked down at his hand then back up to his eyes. His gaze so intense that she thinks he'd be compelling her if he could.

She sighs and puts her hand inside his own and he bites down on his own tongue to keep his face neutral.

*

So here he is, hovering by her front door in another button up, deep blue this time because she'd insisted that he put some variety in his wardrobe and stop walking around looking like a ghostly shadow dressed in all black, all the time. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, the shirt untucked over a pair of dark denim jeans, and his favorite black leather boots.

He'd tried to tame his hair but considered it a futile affair since his most obvious and impossible habit to break is shoving his fingers through it constantly, especially when he's nervous.

He knocks lightly on her front door and shoves his fists in his pockets.

She opens the door almost immediately and her scent almost drowns him, considerably more potent because her house is saturated with it.

Her hair is damp and curly, pulled up into a high messy bun. Little wisps of hair have fallen around her nape to frame the beautiful bronze column of her neck.

She's wearing a blue tank top that leaves _very_ little to the imagination and blue spandex shorts to match. Her feet are bare, toenails painted blood red.

She's leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed under her breasts and she's wearing a small frown, eyebrows raised.

And he's never wanted to kiss anybody more than he does right fucking now.

"Well. _Clearly_ you've forgiven me for earlier."

The smile on his face feels plastered on and she looks far from amused and maybe he should have given his conversation starter a little more thought.

He clears his throat. "Okay. Fine, Bonnie. Can I at least have a chance to explain myself?"

She shrugs. "Fine. Go ahead."

"You're not gonna invite me in?"

She smirks. But its not the friendly kind.

"You already have an invitation into my house, Damon." She pauses and tilts her head. "You sure you don't wanna just _force_ yourself into my personal space like usual?"

He's immediately reminded of hundreds of scenarios when they were on the other side and he was being, you know, Damon, and she would get to the point to where she needed to just get away from him and take a breather.

But with Damon being Damon, and not really knowing how to properly process being rejected by the _only_ other living person in their world, he couldn't just let it be.

She'd storm out of the Boarding House and jump in his blue Camaro, seeking out the calm and quiet of her own home, only to open her front door and find him lounging on the sofa with a deck of UNO cards spread out on the coffee table.

"Loser cooks dinner?" He'd say with his most innocent smile.

Or she'd just curl up on the couch at the Boarding House with a book, determined to ignore him while he paced back and forth reciting her book of choice, from memory, complete with different accents and all, until she would eventually give up and hurl the book at his head.

And although their relationship was _founded_ on that kind of dynamic, it just didn't feel right to let her walk away angry anymore.

Where before, they were just enemies in passing. But now, she has roots within him, she's become such an integral part of his life, of his happiness, and his moral compass that he _feels_ her absence so completely now that it makes him cold.

Each time he'd inevitably pissed her off he'd always be afraid that _this_ would be the time that he'd gone too far and he'd never get her back.

So the solution in Damon's mind was to never let her get too far in the first place.

Bonnie shifts on her feet where she still stands in the doorframe and his eyes refocus, her blood red toenail polish solidifying again, his eyes snap back to hers and he smiles awkwardly.

"Okay. I'll give you that. I can be a little pushy, but- "

She snorts. "A _little?_ Ha!"

He stands there with his mouth hanging open for a sec, giving her a look of _really?_ And he sees her eyes soften just a bit.

He's counting it as progress.

"Okay, _fine,_ Bonnie. _Very_ pushy. You happy?"

She bites her bottom lip trying to hide her smile. "I'm getting there. Continue."

"You know aggressive, overbearing, and pushy is how I show my love, Bonnie, come on. You've _met_ me."

Yes, he's told her he loves her, a lot of times. And she's told him she loves him too, a little less than a lot of times. And he knows that she loves him the way she loves Caroline and Elena. Not in the all-consuming, you're the only one for me and you will always be the only one, forever and always as long as we both shall live, kinda love that he feels for her.

He hadn't even entertained the notion until he and Bonnie had gotten stuck on the Other Side together and he'd been forced to dig his head out of his ass and get to know another woman outside of Elena.

Their time together had opened up a new dimension in their relationship.

She actually had started enjoying his company and laughing at his jokes, even. And eventually she'd started depending on him. Protecting him. Reaching out for him.

And he'd found himself seeking out her warmth on cold nights when she would fall asleep on the couch after watching Sister Act for the billionth time. He'd just sit across from her and watch her for hours, his fingers itching to touch. He'd listen to her light snoring and wanted to feel the warmth of her breath against his skin.

And just like that, it hit him like a freight train and from then on, there was no going back for him.

"Please let me in?"

And he pulls the most ridiculously adorable pouty face she can't even hide her smile anymore.

"I hate you so much, Salvatore."

But she's stepping aside and he has to keep himself from a celebratory fist pump as he steps over the threshold letting her honey scent smother him when he wraps both arms around herwaist, lifting her from the ground in a tight hug.

Her little surprised _yelp_ makes him smile and she's slapping him lightly on the shoulders.

"Put me down, you're not out of the woods yet!" She says but her tone sounds playful all the same.

He inhales deeply the scent of her neck making his mouth water but he needs to commit this to memory in case this all backfires and she kicks his ass to the curb after this.

After he's had his fill, he lowers her gently to the floor and immediately feels the effects of withdrawal.


	3. Chapter 3

He's always felt a little off kilter inside Bonnie's house. It's so... _frilly._ And while its not entirely what he expected, its still not entirely surprising either.

In her earlier days, Bonnie had been really into bell bottom jeans and those big flowy shirts that did her body no justice at all so when he'd stepped foot in her bedroom for the first time he couldn't say that he was shocked to find that a garden had basically vomited on her wall and called it wallpaper.

"Wow." He remembers saying when she'd invited him in, less than a month after they'd gotten home from the other side. "Very...um...floral."

"Hey." She warned him. "You watch your mouth, Salvatore. My mom had a thing for flowers and my dad never bothered to remodel after she left. And I kinda like it so you mind your tongue if you wanna keep it."

"Well if you want me to keep my lunch securely in my stomach I'd rather you blind me because this is-"

A pillow from her bed hits him in the face, effectively cutting off the rest of his sentence.

Grabbing it before it falls to the ground in all its puffy pink glory, he glares at her.

"Rude." He growled, fluffing the offending object between his fingers before dropping onto her bed and placing it behind him to support his head as he lounged on his back amongst her stuffed bunnies and teddy bears.

She'd covered her mouth to hide her laugh. Unable to get over the picture he'd made on top of her pink and purple blanket.

"You're ridiculous." She'd said, shaking her head.

"You love it." He retorted, curling his tongue around the words, effectively dirtying the sentence and earning that cute little nose scrunch Bonnie does when he makes innocent things go filthy.

Which now that he thinks about it, isn't that exactly what he's trying to do to Bonnie? take this precious, innocent, perfect thing and dirty her up with the sins he wears on him like a jacket?

Not exactly. But that's most likely the way she and everyone else on the planet will see it.

*

So yeah. Now he's currently sitting in her living room in a green armchair covered with more flowers, white this time, awkwardly twiddling his fingers and waiting for Bonnie to get back from the kitchen with their drinks while desperately trying to find a way to tell her how he feels without screwing the whole thing up.

So far, all scenarios he's managed to conjure up have ended with Bonnie being absolutely disgusted and mortified or just simply laughing at the mere obsurdity of it all.

He'd tried to slyly test her reaction to the idea a handful of times, not even fully realizing why he was doing it. He'd been merely curious.

One time, back in their '94 prison world, he'd found Bonnie standing quietly by herself in front of the burning fire place in the study.

She'd been wearing that faded gray tshirt of his that she'd claimed as hers now because the material felt buttery soft against her skin (her words, not his) and it was just small enough so that it didn't swallow her up like some of the other things she'd noticeably swiped from his closet.

He'd stood there behind her and just watched her.

How had he not noticed how beautiful she was before?

Okay. Of course Bonnie is gorgeous, he doesn't think anyone with eyes would deny that.

But now that he'd been forced to take a closer look, with their forced quaranteen and all, he realizes that its not just her looks.

It's her grace. Her elegance. The way she flutters quietly into a room and perches on the outskirts. Or the way she prances around in front of the mirror when she's getting herself dressed in the morning. Bouncing this way and that, twirling so that she can see herself from all angles. The way she fluffs her hair so that it falls lightly over her shoulders and frames her face just right.

Like a little bird.

And when he'd seen her standing in front of the fireplace, he'd gotten a sense of sadness from her. The way she'd been hugging herself, head tilted slightly, swaying back and forth to some Top Ten 90's Slow Jam and he couldn't resist anymore.

A moth to a flame.

He'd sauntered up behind her, taking his sweet time. Humming off beat and too loud so that she'd know he was coming and by the time he was standing right in front of her she'd turned around to face him, bitting her bottom lip and trying hard not to laugh.

"Aw come on, Bon. Don't stop on my account." He grins.

She glances down so that her hair falls over her face, probably to hide her blushing embarrassment at being caught, and turns back to the flames crackling in the hearth.

"Hmmm..." Her voice is low and raspy, the way it gets when she's doing a particularly hard spell. "I just got nostalgic, thats all."

"Yeah. Shitty music and plaid. The good ol' days." He says, moving up to stand next to her.

"Well." She starts, glancing at him briefly before turning back to the fire. "No man I've ever seen can quite pull off the acid wash and plaid like you, Damon. I can't lie."

He looks at her, his playful smile gone and replaced by something more serious. Shocked. But she refuses to give him eye contact.

He knows it was probably just a throw away comment but it was the first time she'd outright given him a compliment and it caught him off guard. He didn't even think she'd been looking at him in that way.

Of course he knows that most women find him attractive. But, like with many things, he'd thought Bonnie was the exception to the rule.

"Are you... _flirting_ with me?" And he tried to keep his tone casual and he thinks he pulled it off, mostly.

She looks at him then, eyes wide like she'd forgotten he was standing there, before she chuckles low and throaty and says. "Well, apparently being stuck in a prison, sexless and touch deprived for over a month will have me looking at any old thing."

His mouth drops open and she cant help the startled laugh that escapes her.

"Oh no, no, no, Miss Bonnie. You've already told me I wear acid wash better than any man in all the land." He mocks in a Southern Belle accent and she's giggling uncontrollably now.

"First of all. That accent was hideous. Never do that again." She says when she's finally regained her composure. "And secondly, I said no such thing. I simply said...its not your worst fashion choice."

"Nope. No take backs, Bon-Bon. You think I'm hot. That's final."

She gives him an exasperated look as he turns and extends his hand to her. "Now dance with me to shitty 90's music." He says, wiggling his eyebrows playfully.

"Hey! Aerosmith is classic! You watch your mouth."

He smirks and she frowns but takes his hand anyway, allowing him to pull her close before circling both her arms around his neck, his hands resting low on her back.

They both fall into a comfortable silence as they move in a slow circle while Aerosmith's "Crazy" plays low in the background.

She's got her eyes closed like she wants to get lost in the music and he can feel the tips of her fingers where she's idly playing with the hair at the back of his neck.

He fights against the shiver he feels tingling at the top of his spine but dips his head down all the same to give her better access if she wants it.

"So. What were you thinking about before I interrupted, huh?" He keeps his voice low, not wanting to break the spell.

Her eyes open slowly and find his immediately, emerald to ice blue, and she smiles, small and soft.

"Love."

And his eyes drop to her mouth, following the path of her tongue as she swipes it across her bottom lip.

"Being dead kinda puts things in perspective, you know?" She continues and his eyes snap back to hers and he clears his throat, nods.

"I spent so much of my life fighting to keep my friends and family safe and happy and I never got to find my own happiness. Now I don't know if I'll ever get the chance."

His arms tighten around her minutely, bringing his chest flush with her own, the soft press of her breasts a contrast against his hard lines and he revels in her heat.

"And what makes Bonnie Bennett happy, hmm?"

Her gaze falls somewhere over his shoulder as she mulls over his question, her eyebrows creased. Her fingers resume tickling the hairs at his nape and he lets out a shaky breath.

"Sunsets...long walks on the beach..." She chuckles.

"How very original of you, Bon." and he rolls his eyes.

She smiles and then its gone instantly. Her eyes burn into his, honesty and longing, and... _want_ shining on the surface

"I just want to fall in love. That all consuming, reckless, dangerous kinda love..."

She pauses, hums, and let her eyes fall closed again as she tilts her head back. He licks his lips and admires the exposed column of her neck.

"But I also want soft and sweet...slow kisses in the rain, making love on a rooftop on a starry night. I wanna be touched, adored, seen."

Her hands tighten in his hair and he groans.

She opens her eyes then, and he feels her body heat up as a blush creeps up her neck, her fingers go limp over his shoulders and she chews on her lip.

"Sorry...I guess I got carried away, huh?"

And he can't find his voice.

"Do you know the last time I've been touched was eight months ago when Jeremy and I had sex for the first time?"

He tisks. "Tragic."

He dips her and a surprised giggle escapes her lips and they resume their slow dance as "Stay" by Eternal starts to play.

"This is nice. You know...you're quite the dancer, Damon Salvatore."

He raises his eyebrows. "Wow. Two compliments in the same day? Bonnie, be careful. I might get spoiled."

She smiles. "A little late for that."

"...yeah..." he mutters distractedly, tilting his head, his expression pensive as he studies her face.

"What is it?"

He licks his lips.

"What if it had been you?"

She looks at him, confused, and frowns.

"What if...instead of Elena. What if I'd fallen in love with you? Would you have given an old dirty man like me a chance? Hypothetically, of course."

She purses her lips and he holds his breath waiting for the answer that he hadn't known he'd needed the answer to until it was out of his mouth.

"Hmmm. I don't know. That's an intriguing idea. I've never actually thought about it. Have you?"

It wasn't quite the answer he was expecting but he's not sure exactly what it was he'd wanted her to say in the first place.

"Well..." and his grin goes devious. "You keep walking around here in my tshirts and no bra and you'll find out exactly what I'm thinking."

She slaps him on his chest, chuckling. "You're such a pig."

"Oink, oink baby." He smiles, pulling her back in close, exhaling.

"Now, shhh. We're missing all the good songs."

He feels her laugh softly against his chest but she stays quiet, wraps her arms tighter around his neck and their dance continues.

*

The sound of Bonnie's soft footsteps bring him back and his vision solidifies again against her brown rug. He clears his throat, reaches for the tumbler in her outstretched hand.

"Here. I laced yours with some of that O-Positive you left here the other day."

She hands him the glass and takes a seat on the sofa across from him, clutching her own tumbler between her fingers.

"Okay. So what was all that about earlier?" She asks, taking a sip of her bourbon, wincing slightly since she's still not used to the burn.

"Uh...yeah. So. Um." He exhales and put his glass on the table before raking both hands up and through his hair. Licks his lips and glances at her with her feet tucked under her on the sofa, frowning at him over the rim of her glass.

He's just gonna ease her into it. Build her up to the idea. Maybe nudge her in a positive direction with a surprise trip to Hawaii or some shit.

"So here's the thing, Bon..." He can't just blurt it out.

"I'm kinda in love with you." Or apparently he can. Shit.

He hears her sharp intake of breath and her heart actually skips a beat but he has no idea what her face is doing because he's staring at the massive flower arrangement on the coffee table in front of him.

And he's already in it so why not just dig his grave even deeper? Right?

He stands and starts to pace the small room. A lion in a cage.

"Ok. So. This isn't quite how I'd planned to do this but, hey. Impulse control has never been my biggest quality so there's that."

He inhales a deep breath he really doesn't need.

"So yes, I am in love with you and I know what you're thinking." He pauses. "Ok, not really, but I have an idea so you don't have to spell it out for me. I know you don't feel the same way okay, Bonnie?"

And he's still running his fingers through his hair and stalking the straights of the room and looking everywhere but at her.

"Because you're, you know, _you_. And I'm, well... _me_. And women like you don't fall for people like me. But apparently I have no sense of self preservation or dignity for that matter because I keep falling for women I know I could never have, I mean, _you_ of all people. And I was gonna take this secret to my grave because I didn't wanna risk losing you but then Stefan found out and you know how he just keeps going on and on about shit and wont stop until you have no choice but to either kill him or give him what he wants and now...here we are."

He exhales and bows his head. His voice is a little quieter when he resumes.

"I have no idea when it happened because you kinda snuck up on me, Bon. I...I just never saw you coming. And now that you're here, I can't shake you. Believe me, I tried. But now. Now that its out there and I've finally said it out loud, there's no going back. And thats fine."

He chews on the insides of his cheeks and forces himself to say the next words. If he says them out loud then they have to be true.

"I can be your best friend or whatever it is you need me to be. We don't have to make a big deal out of this, okay?"

Her continued silence forces him to stop pacing and look at her and she's staring at him, wide eyed and unblinking and he really doesn't know what the hell to do with the look on her face.

He closes his eyes briefly and balls his fists up at his sides, fighting to pull back the mess of emotions that he can barely get a hold over now because...well. He's him.

"Say something... _please_."

She's shifting around on the couch and he eyes her critically, wishing that he could just hold her down and pluck her thoughts out with tweezers.

"I...um..." She stutters. Stops. Leans forward to place her now empty glass on the coffee table before sitting back, wringing her hands in her lap.

"Damon...I..."

And she can't even look him in the eyes. He's so screwed.

He's a realist for the most part but when it comes to love he's the eternal optimist. He always holds out that tiny glimmer of hope that maybe he'll be good enough to be loved just as passionately as he loves. And Bonnie? Although it was a long shot, Hail Mary kinda thing, he thought Bonnie would maybe get that part of him. That maybe she'd see him. Under the snark and sarcasm and carnage he's just as overlooked and lonely as she is. And that maybe they both deserved better. Deserved each other.

He guesses he can blame his cockiness for fooling himself.

"This is...I mean. Damon...to say that this is a lot would be an _understatement_ , I...I don't know what to say..."

And if he sees one ounce of pity in her eyes he swears he's gonna go murder a bus full of nuns. What has he got to lose now?

He shakes his head and chuckles, self deprecating and sad, eyes her from under his lashes, resigned.

"You know what? You don't have to say anything, Bon. I get it. Kinda the story of my life, you know...fuck."

He steps back, toward the door.

"I'll um. I'll just get out of your hair, give you some time to wrap your head around this."

"No. Damon...wa-"

And before she can move to stop him he's gone. The cold breeze left in his wake making her shiver.

"Well...shit."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 is finally up! 
> 
> All mistakes are purely my own! Other than that, I hope you like!

She'd fallen asleep on the couch.

Rolling over onto her back, she only has about half a second to register that the sun has risen before the events of last night come crashing down around her.

She groans and pulls the throw blanket up and over her head.

Damon is in love with her. Damon. As in Salvatore.

Those words put together...in that order...in the same sentence sound so foreign to her as they echo in her head. It doesn't even seem real.

How? Why? _When_?

She'd tried calling him after he'd left and his phone rang to voicemail every time. She cant lie and say she wasn't just a little relieved because what the hell would she have said to him if he had picked up, anyway?

She exhales and peaks her head from under the blanket. Eyes her phone where it sits ominously on the coffee table mocking her.

She just needs to know if he's okay. But how is she supposed to that without opening the whole other thing that she still cant bring herself to say out loud?

She needs to talk to someone. Air this out or she's just gonna sit here and stew over it until it drives her insane.

Elena. What would Elena think if she knew?

Of course she and Stefan are back together and happier than ever, but still. She didn't miss the fact that Elena wasn't entirely grossed out by the idea of Damon flirting with her. Fighting for her affections.

And Elena hadn't exactly told him to back off when he'd been too comfortable inside her personal bubble, close enough to ride the line of inappropriate without it dipping into down right cheating.

She didn't miss the curiosity in Elena's eyes. Or the ' _what_ _if'_ in Elena's voice whenever the subject of Damon was brought to the table for whatever reason.

She'd even seen jealousy in her best friends eyes at times when Damon was occupying himself with his latest flavor of the week and made it a point to flaunt it in Elena's face.

Honestly, Bonnie can't say that she knew exactly what Elena's angle was when it came to Damon.

She's almost certain that if Elena was given a one night only, guilt free pass to just test the waters, that Elena would run to Damon's bed in a heartbeat.

Still. That evidence is all circumstantial. None of it meant that Elena wanted to be in a relationship with Damon. Or that she was secretly in love with him.

But on the same note, it's still like walking on dangerous territory. Girl Code and all.

Bonnie's not exactly saying that she wants Damon either.

But then again, she'd never really let herself entertain the idea.

In her mind. Damon had just been...Damon. Stefan's wreckless, destructive hot head older brother who had been in need of a little taming. Well. A lot of taming.

He'd effectively dropped into Mystic Falls and torn his way through it like the tornado that he is...or that he used to be?...she doesn't even know anymore.

She'd been convinced at first that Damon was one value. What you see is what you get.

But after spending four months alone with him on The Other Side, she'd realized that she couldn't have been more wrong.

Damon is probably one of the most complex, emotionally unstable creatures she'd ever met in her life.

He'd had a tendency to just let people get close enough to see the rough texture of the brick wall he'd built around himself. And before they'd died together, she really hand't cared enough to want to break those walls down. She'd had her own barriers to secure and he'd made that hard enough for her to do all by himself.

Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't believed they would ever get out, but he'd literally taken most of his secrets with him to his grave...or to The Other Side, whatever.

And as the universe has a tendency to have a twisted sense of humor, she'd been chosen to sit with him and all of his secrets.

In their first few weeks on The Other Side, things had been just as expected.

Damon being angry and mad at the world. Mad at her simply because she was the only one available to lash out on.

She hadn't had her powers there, but as the universe would have it, Damon still remained a vampire. Which meant that his temper was a threat to her.

Could she be killed if she was technically already dead?

She had no desire to find out so she'd tried keeping her distance. Staying at Grams' place to keep space between them.

But then she'd found him one night, laying flat on his back in his yard next to the flowers and herbs she'd planted.

For a place that was supposed to be Hell, the weather was surprisingly mild. Perfect for gardening.

A bottle of bourbon, half full, cradled gently at his side, another two empty bottles at his feet, dangerously close to her Azaleas and he didn't even turn to face her.

She knows he'd heard her come in. Probably heard her stomach growling from down the block but he'd just kept his eyes on the sky.

From her angle she couldn't tell if he was asleep but it would probably be safer to find out from where she's standing.

"Damon?"

His fingers twitch where his hand is resting low on his belly but other than that he doesn't acknowledge her.

She sighs and decides to leave her safe haven in the patio doorway, leaving all her makeshift weapons behind her in the kitchen in the form of steak knives and wrought iron pans as she steps out into the grass.

"Damon?"

Nothing.

She continues forward, blades of grass tickling her bare ankles.

In hindsight, she probably should have worn her sneakers instead of sandals, sneakers being better for, you know, running for your life.

She stops at his feet, kicking lightly at his boot. "Since when are you into star gazing?"

Silence.

She can see his eyes now. Open and skyward, glazed over from drunk.

"What if he's happy?" He mumbles at the sky.

"What?"

And he exhales, fumbling for the bottle at his side. Lifting his head to take a swig and the light catches the streaks of wet on his cheeks and her heart lurches.

She didn't even think Damon had tear ducts.

She moves to stand at his side and leans over him and he drags his hand up to clumsily wipe at his face.

"Damon. What are you talking about?"

He finally looks at her then, and the look in his eyes can only be described as anguish.

"Stefan...what if. What if Stefan is happy that I'm gone?"

Now even she knows that can't be true. Damon has tortured his brother probably longer than she's been alive but there is no way that Stefan isn't ripped open at the fact that Damon's not there with him.

"Where is this coming from? How could you even think that? Stefan loves you."

He drops his hand to rest on his stomach again, his pinky finger resting under his belly button where his shirt has risen.

"You know our father used to beat us?"

And okay, she's gonna have an aneurism trying to keep up with him.

"Damon. What is this about?"

He props himself up on both elbows, lick his lips.

"Sit a spell." He pats the ground with his hand.

She hesitates for a second but decides to indulge him, lowering herself to the ground and crossing her legs in front of her.

He watches her lazily and her skin feels tight as his gaze burns into her and once she settles, he sits all the way up and positions himself so that hes facing her fully, legs stretched out and bracketing her.

"I'm a shitty person, Bonnie." He looks down at his fingers, flexing them. "Somebody told me once that being dead kinda puts things in perspective." He meets her eyes again, the shadow of his lashes making his eyes look grey.

She smirks, remembering their conversation in front of the fireplace.

"Well...you've been dead for 150 years, Damon. You're gonna have to come up with a better explanation as to why you're all over the place right now."

His eyes go soft. "Point taken."

And she'd learned a lot about Damon that night. The fact that when he was human he'd loved animals. Horses were his favorite and he and Stefan would sneak out some nights after their father had gone to bed so that he could teach Stefan how to ride.

She'd almost wished she had a chance to know Damon as a human. She can barely picture him being an ordinary mortal. Although, she highly doubts Damon was ever an ordinary _anything_.

A few years ago, if somebody had asked her if she could ever see herself falling in love with Damon she'd have burned them to ash off principal alone.

But now.

She doesn't know.

All she knows for sure is that over the past few months Damon has become one of her best friends and thats more than she could have imagined.

But anything more than a best friend? Well. That's something she has to figure out now, apparently.

Her phone buzzes in her hand with an incoming text and she jumps, opens the phone to read it.

_Where the hell are you? We're supposed to be meeting at Whitmore to pick out our Freshman courses._

Shit. Caroline. Oh God, what is Caroline gonna say about this new revelation?

Caroline despises Damon, and that's on her good days. And who could blame her? Damon had basically taken her free will and turned her into his own personal sex goddess and blood bag when he'd come to town.

And Bonnie guesses that if she'd never had the chance to spend that time with Damon alone on the other side, she'd probably still despise Damon too.

But she did spend that time with him. And she doesn't despise him. She acutually cares for him dearly.

But how do you explain that to someone?

How does Bonnie ask Caroline _not_ to look at Damon as a self serving asshole with no redeeming qualities when all he's shown her is that very thing?

She sends a quick reply to Caroline telling her she's on her way and peels herself off the couch to shower.

* * *

She'd tried her best to be as excited as Caroline was to be standing in long lines around hundreds of people she didn't know, or care to know for that matter, to pick out college courses that she'd probably flunk out of since her life was a complete mess.

But she had to give it to the girl though. Caroline has the effortless talent of making everything seem like its the most magical thing on the planet, no matter how trivial it is.

If she's being honest with herself, she has to say that she actually did have fun with Caroline today. Actually forgot about the six words she'd heard last night that rocked her universe.

_I'm kinda in love with you._

They're sitting at The Grill now, properly registered for fall semester, and she still can't make the words make sense in her head.

"What is _with_ you today?" Caroline asks, eyeing her while sipping on her Tequila Sunrise.

Bonnie fakes innocence, frowning at her best friend. "What do you mean?"

Caroline gives her a look, letting her know that she sees right through her.

"Seriously Bonnie? You've been spacing all day. You basically let me pick all of your classes for you. And you didn't even give the tour guide a second look, even though he was _obviously_ into you."

Bonnie takes a sip of her bourbon, relishing in the burn as it makes its way down to her belly to spread and settle like lava.

"I dunno. I guess with everything going on...I'm just trying to get back in the swing of life." She exhales, running her finger through the water ring her glass left on the table. "It all seems so weird. Surreal, you know? I was dead a handful of months ago and now I'm getting ready for Freshman year of college.

She sets her drink aside, taking a glance around the bar.

"I honestly don't know how you do it, Caroline. I mean, how do you ignore the chaos?"

Caroline gives her friend a small smile.

"I guess I don't so much as ignore the chaos, rather I distract myself from it. I mean, _come_ _on_. Why do you think I was on every planning committee in high school, huh? Why do you think I was so eager to go pick out our classes and tour the campus and the dorms?"

Bonnie raises her eyebrows. "Honestly?"

Caroline glares at her _hard_ and Bonnie smiles.

"We'd all just assumed you were a crazy, neurotic control freak."

She tries to disguise her chuckle by taking another sip of her bourbon when Caroline's mouth drops open and she playfully kicks at her friends feet under the table and Bonnie can't hold back her laugh any more.

"Truth hurts, buddy." Bonnie shrugs and Caroline rolls her eyes.

"Oh hush. You guys loved it."

Bonnie reaches for her hand where it rests on top of their table across from her. "No, we love _you_." She squeezes her hand before releasing it to grab her glass again. "And yes. You've kept us all very...organized."

They both laugh.

Bonnie had missed this the most when she was stuck on The Other Side.

Being able to just call up her friends and hang out and talk and gossip and just...be _happy._ And when she'd come back they'd all, Caroline, Elena, and her, just hugged and cried and talked for hours.

And Caroline, especially, had decided to attach herself to Bonnie's hip in the first month and it had been nice to have that again.

She's eased up a bit since then but her death had definitely brought them closer and strengthened the already unbreakable bond they all shared.

"You wanna split a basket of fries or something?"

And Bonnie barely registered what her friend was saying because she'd felt that familiar tingle run down her spine, making the hairs on her neck stand on end letting her know that she was being watched.

She dips her head to rub at her neck and tries covertly to scan the crowd and as she turns toward the bar her eyes immediately crash into a sea of icy blue, a startled inhale nearly chokes her.

He's too far away for her to even try reading his mood and he looks away as soon as their eyes meet. The bartender sits three shot glasses in front of him on the bar and Damon swallows all three quickly before hopping off the barstool and heading for the exit.

"Bonnie?"

And her eyes snap back to Carolines, who's squinting at her with a sneaking suspicion in her eyes.

"What was that?" She asks

"Huh? What are you talking about?" And she takes another sip of bourbon just so she'd have an excuse to look away.

She hears Caroline huff while she nearly downs her drink in full, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and grimacing.

" _Bonnie_." And she sounds exasperated. "Vampire, remember? Your heart skipped, like, fifty beats and it's currently playing a drum solo in your chest. So I'll ask again. What. Is. Up?" She exhales, her expression goes sad. "I mean, since when do we keep secrets?"

And if she didn't feel bad before, she certainly does now. Caroline may be animated and insecure at times and over the top, but all of that pales in comparison to the size of her heart and the sheer, unwavering loyalty that she has to her friends.

Caroline may not agree with their decisions all the time, and she lets them know when when they're being idiots. But she also never judges them for making their own choices. She stands by her friends by any means.

And Bonnie realizes that she's not afraid to tell Caroline about Damon because of what Caroline might think of her. She's afraid of what she might think of _herself_ if she admits her feelings out loud.

She exhales and shakes her head. Here goes nothing.

"Caroline...I. I have to tell you something."

She sees her friends eyes go wide for a split second before she readjusts, puts on her supportive face.

"Okay...should we...like. Order the fries first, though? Because, you know, I can get a little over the top if I'm not properly fed."

God, she loves Caroline.

She smiles at her friend. "Yeah. Get us some fries."

And Caroline does the little giddy, hyper, hand clappy thing she does when she gets excited.

"With chili on top...and extra cheese." Bonnie adds as Caroline stands to head to the ordering station.

"Oh, _Bonnie_. This tea must be _hot."_ She raises an eyebrow before she retreats to put in their order.

Bonnie rubs her sweaty hands against the rough denim of her jeans before fishing her cell from her purse on the seat beside her.

She glances up at Caroline to make sure she's still distracted with the waiter before she opens her phone and scrolls to Damon's number.

_We_ _need_ _to_ _talk_.

She hits the button to send the text and tosses the phone back inside her purse when she sees Caroline heading back toward their table.

"Fries are on the way. _And_ I got us free refills on our drinks." Caroline smiles as she reclaims her seat across from Bonnie. Leaning forward and crossing her arms in front of her on the table. "Now spill."

Bonnie looks her friend in the eyes, worries on the corner of her lip with her teeth. Exhales.

"Okay. So."

And she wishes she had another drink right now. She glances over at the bar, willing the bartender to hurry up.

Caroline shifts impatiently in her chair and Bonnie refocuses her attention, her best friend eying her, brows raised.

She rolls her eyes and continues. "Okay. So...You know I was trapped on the other side with Damon for _months_ , right?"

Carolines eyebrows scrunch. "Um, yeah?"

"Well. So. Sometimes when. When certain people spend time. When they're _forced_ to spend time together...certain things happen. Things, or _feelings_...may, you know, float to the surface. And so Damon and I. Well..we sorta-"

Caroline leans back in her seat. Her startled intake of breath cutting Bonnie short, and she lets her arms slide off the table to fall limp in her lap.

"You had sex with Damon."

And Bonnie nearly chokes. "Wait, _what_? Caroline no!" She leans forward, lowers her voice. "I did not have _sex_ with Damon."

Caroline squints at her all skeptical, eyes raking over her face. "Are you sure? Because you and Damon have been acting real shifty around each other ever since you got back"

And it is at that point that the waiter decides to show. Placing a heaping basket of steaming, loaded fries between them, their drinks following.

Bonnie waits until the waiter has retreated. Watches as Caroline is momentarily distracted with getting the perfect chili/cheese ratio on her fry and popping it into her mouth.

*

And she's reminded of that time on The Other Side when she and Damon stayed up all night eating junk and drinking and Damon had even talked her into playing Truth or Dare.

How had she forgotten about that?

It had been maybe a week or two after she'd found him all sprawled out and sad in his back yard and she'd decided that Damon needed a lot more supervision than she'd originally thought. So she'd been staying with him at the Boarding House most nights. It was big enough where she could still have a sense of privacy while also staying close enough to catch him in case he decided to put a chair leg through his own chest.

She'd been lounging on her bed in one of the spare rooms Damon had made up for her, scribbling away in her journal when AC/DC "Back in Black" suddenly rattled the whole house, effectively breaking her concentration.

She rolled her eyes, marking her page before shutting her journal and tossing it to the foot of the bed.

She'd eventually come to realize that 80's rock music was Damon's _good_ _mood_ music so at least she'd be spared another life saving mission.

She hopped down from her bed to slide her feet into the goofy witch slippers Damon bought her as a gag, but she actually liked them. The gangly witch stitched on the top kinda reminded her of the hero witch in some old Z-List black and white movie she used to watch at her Grams' as a child.

As she made her way down the long staircase, she saw Damon standing on his coffee table, strumming an imaginary air guitar with his head thrown back, eyes closed and she couldn't help the smile that had spread across her lips.

She'd never seen Damon let loose and be free and ever since they'd gotten trapped in that Hell dimension with him, ever since she'd decided to stay with him, she had been peeling back more and more layers of him.

It was sorta beautiful.

She continued her descent to the first floor and Damon finally noticed he'd had an audience, hopping off the table and coming toward her, huge grin on his lips, his eyes bright and glassy.

So she'd get Drunk _and_ Happy Damon, apparently.

"Oh, Bon, you're still up, good." He grabs her wrist and drags her over to the sofa. "Sit."

"Damon. What?.."

And he pushes her gently to the sofa and turns to disappear into the kitchen before she can get out another word.

When he returns to the living room he's carrying a pizza box, two brown paper bags on top, and his best bottle of bourbon.

"Damon. It's after midnight, you can not expect me to have a pizza party with you right now."

He deposits all the items on the table in front of her before making his way around the other side to sit next to her on the couch. "Actually, Bon. Thats _exactly_ what I was expecting."

He flashes her a grin before he leans forward to pull the pizza box closer.

"Now. This isn't just any pizza party, Bon. This..." and he flips the box open, waves of steam and pepperoni goodness float toward her nose. "This is the best damn pizza party of your undead life."

She eyes him, then the pizza, then back to him. Smiles. "Okay. That does look pretty good."

His eyes go wide. "Pretty good? _Pretty_ _good_? Bon, this here is Gino's Pizza. Brooklyn's finest, most orgasmic pizza, how dare you."

He picks up a slice that looks to be about the size of her head and she can feel the saliva start to pool in her mouth as she watches the cheese stretch and pull as he lifts the slice from the box.

"This...is mouth sex." He says as he folds the slice in half, cupping his other hand underneath to catch the dripping grease as he brings the slice to her mouth.

She stares at him like she's waiting for the punchline and he gives nothing away.

"Open up."

Her stomach rumbles violently and a knowing grin spreads on his lips.

She chuckles. "Fine."

She leans forward, parting her lips and he slides the tip into her mouth and it feels like velvet as it slides across her tongue. She bites down and tears off a piece, her hand coming up to grab at the strings of cheese dangling from her lips.

He watches her intensely as she chews slowly, humming and moaning. "Oh my God."

"See?" He says and takes his own bite out of her slice.

"You drove all the way to New York for Pizza?" She asks when her mouth is finally empty.

"Don't be silly, Bon. I got something for you too."

He sets his slice down before grabbing the paper bags and depositing them in her lap. She grabs them and peers inside, giggles when she identifies the contents.

"Chili fries and cheesecake, Damon? How did you know these were my favorite."

He's got a look on his face, all self satisfied. "I listen." And thats all he offers up before finishing off their slice of pizza.

He's leaning back against the couch cushions now, full of pizza and half of Bonnie's cheesecake. His legs splayed and his third...fourth glass of bourbon? resting in the space between them.

Bonnie's next to him, her legs folded under her, knees brushing against the fabric of his jeans at his thigh and they just enjoy the lazy buzz of alcohol and being well fed.

"Truth or Dare." He says.

She looks at him. His head is resting against the back of the couch and his eyes are low, the alcohol making his cheeks bright red.

"What?"

He turns to look at her, wetting his lips with his tongue. "Truth. Or. _Dare_." He repeats. His eyes going wide, making him look slightly off kilter.

She's been going along with this charade all night anyway. Why stop now?

She exhales, resettles so she's sitting more comforably, their shoulders touching now.

"Truth." She says.

He rolls his eyes. "Prude."

And she bumps his shoulder with her own. "Shut up."

He chuckles before continuing. "Is it true that...you were a virgin before Jeremy?"

She groans. "I am not answering that, Damon."

She feels him shrug. "Fine. You don't answer, you gotta strip."

"Damon. That is not how you play Truth or Dare." She says, taking another sip of her drink.

He turns his head toward her, lazy eyes catching her own. Their faces mere inches apart.

"It's how _I_ play."

She feels his cool breath brushing against the skin on her face and she shivers, a warm swooping feeling in the bottom of her stomach. "Not at all surprising." she whispers, her voice sounding raspy in her ears.

"So. What's it gonna be, Bon? Talk or strip."

She exhales, looks down, playing with the glass tumbler between her fingers. "Yeah." She admits. "He was my first."

She hears Damon hum low next to her. "Pretty...um... _anti_ - _climactic_ , huh?"

She feels her body go hot because, yeah. The whole Jeremy relationship was complicated at best. And while he'd been so sweet and gentle with her, they just didn't...click. And it showed. In their day to day. And in the bedroom.

Either way though, that was none of Damon's business.

"You had your turn, Damon. Now it's my turn. "Truth or Dare."

He grins. "Truth."

She scoffs. "And _I'm_ the prude?" She swallows the last of her drink before she leans forward to grab the bottle for a refill. "Okay. Why did you hate me so much when we first met?"

She doesn't know how to process the way he's looking at her when she glances at him but she doesn't comment. She stays quiet while he thinks over his answer.

He holds his glass out toward her, a silent request for his own refill and she tips the bottle into his glass, filling it up before putting the bottle back on the table and resettling on the couch next to him.

"I never hated you, Bonnie." And his face goes serious. "Actually, I'd assumed you hated me. You made me want to rebel. You were constantly hounding me."

"Hounding you?" She cuts him off. "You mean calling you on your shit?"

He waves his hand. "Tomato, Tomahto...anyway, I guess it had been a while since I'd had somebody forcing me to own my transgressions." He looked at her then. "You know, Bonnie. You're a hell of a woman. I think you rival Katherine in my top ten list of women I'd like to sink my teeth into. If only to shut you up."

Ignoring the disturbing vision of his teeth tearing into her neck, she actually gets it.

"I am a tough one."

He downs his drink and leans forward for another. "Understatement."

She smiles.

"Okay. My turn. Truth or Dare?"

Maybe its the alcohol. Maybe its the fact that she just doesn't care about the consequences but she takes a chance. "Dare."

His eyes flash, surprise and mischief shining, he's got a nasty grin pulling at his lips and her stomach bottoms out.

He sits back. Settles against the couch cushions with no space between them. He lets his gaze rake her body before his eyes meet hers again, he wets his lips. "Kiss me."

And his voice is filthy, rumbling against her skin like thunder.

"What? You're not serious." And she leans forward to put her half empty glass on the table.

"Look at me, Bon." And she does. "I'm _dead_ serious."

Maybe he didn't believe she'd actually do it. Maybe he wanted to push her buttons, make her slap him and storm up to her room.

Maybe he really did want it. Who knows?

But she's been so over the good girl persona that all of her friends have labeled her as. She'd died for them. She'd actually given her life for them and maybe she deserved a little rebellion.

She licked her lips and felt a thrill run through her when she saw his lips part just slightly, noticed his hand clench into a fist where it rested on the arm of the couch.

"Okay." She says, scooting impossibly closer to him, practically in his lap now."

"Okay?" He repeats.

And she's done with the talking portion of the game.

She lifts her hand. Slides it into the hair at the back of his neck, closes it into a tight fist so that the thick strands of his hair are trapped between her fingers and she feels him shiver as she guides him toward her.

"Bonnie..." and that's all he has a chance to say before her lips touch his.

She feels his breath hitch as she teases his lips with her tongue, forcing him to open for her and when he gives her access, she devours him.

She searches his mouth thoroughly, tasting bourbon and hints of the cherries he'd stolen off her cheesecake.

She hears him moan. She feels his hand where its sliding slowly up her thigh to rest low on her hip and she's not letting up.

She eats hungrily at his lips and swallows the desperate noises tumbling from his throat and when her lungs scream for air she leans back slightly. He's breathing heavy and his hand is squeezing her hip just _this_ _side_ of painful.

"Shit," He breathes and it's like he's reading her mind. "What...?"

"That was-"

*

"Bonnie?"

Carolines voice startles her and she's back at the grill. She shakes her head trying to make the memory disappear as she struggles to remember what they were talking about.

"Bonnie. Did you sleep with him?"

And oh, yeah. _That's_ what they were talking about.

"No, Caroline. Damon and I did not have sex on the other side."

She grabs a fry and drops it into her mouth trying to mask the the fact that she suddenly thinks she can still feel the ghost of his tongue invading her mouth.

"Okay. So? What is it then?"

And its obviously not any worse than what Caroline had been assuming anyway, so.

"Damon's in love with me." She blurts, grabbing another cheesy fry.

And Caroline. Well. Caroline doesn't look the least bit surprised and Bonnie is kinda underwhelmed.

"You've got nothing to say about that?"

Caroline shrugs, takes a sip of her drink. "Like I said, Bonnie. You two have been acting really weird. I just figured you'd had sex. But love? Yeah, thats not too hard to believe either."

Bonnie thinks that maybe she'd underestimated her friend just a tad because while she'd been completely clueless to this entire thing, Caroline has been mapping it all out quietly in her head.

"Well? Why didn't you say anything, Caroline? You aren't upset? Mildly grossed out? Nothing?"

She reaches for Bonnie, grabbing her hand where it rests on the table. "Of course I'm disgusted, Bonnie." And she squeezes her hand, smiles. "But, I'm also kinda intrigued."

Bonnie frowns. "Intrigued?"

Caroline takes another soggy fry off their dwindling pile. "I mean...I don't know...I guess, while still trying to sort out my very...disdainful feelings toward Damon, I couldn't help notice how much he's changed since you guys came back...how much _you've_ changed, even."

"Me?"

"Come on, Bonnie. You know you've been different ever since you came back. More confident. Happier. And I can't be upset about that."

She smiles. "Really?"

Caroline nods. "Really." Then she frowns. "Damon's still on my shit list though. He's not getting off that easy. But still...whatever he did to give you that extra glow...I can't be mad at that." She tilts her head. "Plus. It doesn't matter where he is on my list. Where is he on _yours_?"

She drops her eyes to their hands tangled together on the table top. Feels all the stress and anxiety melt away because her best friend is here. Has her back. And she's no longer afraid to admit out loud what her heart knew a long time ago.

"I..." she smiles, looking her friend in the eyes. "I think I'm kinda in love with him."

It's like a boulder has been lifted off her shoulders and she exhales, Caroline squeezing her fingers gently and when she looks at her she doesn't see a hint of judgement.

"Does he know that?"

Bonnie shakes her head slowly.

"Well...don't you think you should go tell him that?"

Yes. Yes she does.


	5. Chapter 5

"This is all your fault, Stefan." He's got one arm thrown over his eyes, lying flat on his back on the sofa, feet hanging over the sides because he hasn't bothered to take his shoes off yet. "You remember that lifetime of misery I promised you? Huh? Well, I think I'm about ready to renew my efforts on that front, brother."

He hears Stefan's exhale _and_ his eyeroll, so he sits up from his reclined position to find his brother standing in front of the fireplace not looking the least bit concerned with Damon's threats.

The bastard has the nerve to look _relaxed_ with his Levi's on and his arms crossed and his Hero Hair lightly tousled.

Dick.

"I'm serious, Stefan, you've butted your love sick little nose into my business one too many times." And he leans back against the couch cushions, running his hands through his hair to push it back off his face.

Stefan scoffs and it grates on Damon's nerves.

"Yeah, yeah." Stefan mumbles, making his way to the drink cart, filling two glasses before moving to hand one to his brother and having a seat on the couch next to him. "First of all, you're _my_ brother so your emotional state _is_ my business." He glares at Damon, daring him to speak to the contrary, watches him sip his bourbon, glaring right back at him over the rim of his glass. "Second of all, what is it that's my fault, exactly?"

Damon sighs all put upon before he tilts his body to the side, just enough to fish his cell from his back pocket, scrolling through for a beat until he finds what he's looking for.

" _This._ Is your fault."

And he shoves his phone in his brother's face, Bonnie's text message is highlighted and unread.

"Um. Maybe I'm missing something here?" And he grabs the phone from Damon, looks at it again. "Okay? It says, _'we need to talk.'"_ He tosses the phone in Damon's lap. "Not exactly seeing the problem here."

Damon rolls his eyes. "Which is _why_ you stayed a virgin until you were sixteen." He stands to pace the straights of the room. "When a woman says _'we need to talk',_ it really means, ' _I'm about to rip you to shreds so don't wear anything expensive'_."

Damon can be so over dramatic. Sometimes Stefan loves it. Most of the time, he doesn't.

" _Or."_ Stefan retorts "Maybe it just means…you know…that you two need to talk." He shrugs, leaning back, bringing his foot up to rest against his knee.

Damon stops pacing, giving Stefan a withering stare and Stefan _mostly_ succeeds in keeping a straight face.

His brother puts on this hard ass, rebellious front for the world and it's believable most of the time. But Damon in love? That is a sight to behold.

It takes Stefan back to their childhood, when they were human boys and Damon would blush and gush over whatever girl he'd fancied at the time.

Damon rivaled Stefan by a long shot when it came to romance before Katherine came into the picture and screwed him up.

He would cut fresh flowers from their mothers garden and fashion them in to crowns and bracelets. Or he would pen the most beautiful poems for them, describing their hair, or their eyes so they'd have no doubt that the words on the page had been specifically written for them.

Stefan had been the selfish one growing up. And he guesses it was because Damon had let it be known from the day that Stefan was born that nothing would come before his baby brother. Stefan's needs came first, even if it meant that Damon would sometimes have to _go without_ just to make sure that Stefan _had._

Damon would take the blame when Stefan would get caught disobeying their father so that Stefan would not have to feel the pain of their Father's wrath. And Stefan got used to it, had come to expect it, even, and it had made Stefan grow up with a false sense of superiority.

He's not sure why he _always_ got the girl while his brother discarded and forgotten about.

Maybe it was his selfishness that made him more appealing. The fact that Stefan felt that he hadn't needed to _prove_ himself to anyone because he deemed himself already worthy, could possibly be what had caught Katherine's eye. Who knows?

And by the time Elena had come along, Damon's heart had long gone cold. He'd given up his sweet boyish ways and had been too reckless and too much of a ticking time bomb for Elena to handle.

Stefan isn't blind, or stupid either. He knows Elena felt something, probably _still_ feels something for his brother. And if Elena was _half_ as self-serving as Katherine had been, Stefan is pretty sure that he'd be splitting Elena's affections with his brother today.

But Elena is different.

Of course she fell for Damon's charms, who wouldn't? One of the reasons he's still backing his brother, no matter how idiotic he can be at times, is because Damon has a way with words. He has a way of laying out a horrific plan but making it roll off his tongue like butter and then everybody wants a taste.

Elena, however, didn't let Damon's charms sway her completely, though, and she picked the safer, more logical choice, in her mind and Damon was left out in the cold, again.

The world and the people in it had a way of tearing away at your psyche, especially someone with a free loving spirit like Damon. And Damon has been allowed a century and a half's worth of time to experience a world such as this, process it and let it eat at him. And he sometimes tends to snap.

Stefan's even snapped a time or… ten. He's not called The Ripper of Monterey for _nothing,_ after all. But where Stefan has Elena now to ground him. Damon has had to deal on his own.

At least he did, until he'd discovered his feelings for Bonnie.

And now Stefan sees a hint of that nervous, shy little boy that he loves and misses, and he's fought to get that boy back since the moment he made him turn into a vampire over 145 years ago.

So yeah, he's going to enjoy this, soak it up and commit it to memory because he honestly doesn't know what Bonnie's answer is going to be.

He doubts Bonnie would run for the hills or anything like that, but who knows if she's ready, or _willing_ , for that matter, to take whatever this thing is that she has with Damon to the next level. Even Stefan can see that what they have is something new and fresh, but it's also so _fragile_.

Bonnie understands and dissects Damon in a way that even Stefan can't seem to master. It's like when Stefan tries to talk his brother down from a ledge, he tends to escalate the situation without even trying.

But Bonnie? Bonnie makes him pause and think. She chooses the right words to trigger Damon's rational brain and after his standard griping and moaning, he usually heeds her advice, or admonishments, depending on the topic of discussion at the time.

Stefan thinks Bonnie would be perfect balance for Damon. She never tries to change him like Elena does. Or make excuses for him like Stefan does.

When Damon fucks up, she tells him. When he's being a dick, she tells him that too. But she never shames him or makes him feel like he's hopeless, or beyond saving. She has a way with words that make Damon reevaluate himself and his actions and then _he_ decides to be the better man on his own.

But should Damon's conscience be Bonnie's responsibility? Does Bonnie think of her relationship with Damon as a _responsibility?_ These are questions that Damon will have to figure out on his own.

"Just talk to her, would ya? I mean, what other choice do you have? Ignore her until one of you dies?"

Damon purses his lips, raises his eyebrows like he's _actually_ considering doing just that, and Stefan wants to shake his brother until some actual sense rattles loose somewhere.

Stefan stands, putting his drink on the coffee table before facing his brother, both hands resting on Damon's shoulders.

"Damon. Bonnie is the _best thing_ that has ever happened to you, yeah? If this whole thing goes to hell because of something you did…or _didn't_ do, you're gonna regret it for the rest of eternity. And that's a long time brother, trust me. You never let me forget it."

Damon drops his head, exhales slowly through his nose, and allows himself to relax as his brother squeezes some of the tension out of his shoulders with his fingers.

When Damon meet's his eyes again, they're guarded. But Stefan's no amateur when it comes to his brother, and he can also see fear there.

"Don't you think I _know_ that, Stefan?” And a spark of anger flashes there for a split second, then it's gone. Resignation taking its place. "Why do you think I've been acting like a fucking idiot all day, huh?"

He steps back, out of his brothers reach, and Stefan's hands slip from his shoulders. Stefan exhales, crosses his arms over his chest, and forces his feet to stay planted instead of advancing on his brother and getting rid of the space Damon put between them.

"I mean, _you_ of all people know my history with women. What if I screw this up and lose her for good?"

Stefan nods. "That's very well a possibility, Damon. But don't you think she's worth that chance?"

Damon's eyebrows crumple, indecisive and helpless, and Stefan doesn't wait for his brother's response. He knows Damon will figure it out, so he just grabs his drink and thumps him lightly on the back with a loose fist on his way past him and up the stairs.

Damon groans, tears his fingers up and through his hair again and flops back down onto the couch.

What the hell was he thinking telling Bonnie he loved her?

She'd _just_ started getting comfortable with him, letting him get away with his _no personal space_ rule and he was greedy. He wanted _more._ Instantly addicted to it.

Either Bonnie is the human equivalent to crack, or he'd been suppressing his feelings for her for _way_ too long because the way his insides twist up and pull whenever she's around _can't_ be normal, and he knows he can be…intense…for lack of a better word so he's tried his best to tame his urges but their time on The Other Side broke him down.

How the hell was he supposed to behave himself with her constantly parading around his house in _his_ clothes half the time, mingling their scents and scrambling his brain?

Damon thinks he's shown more restraint with Bonnie Bennet than he's ever shown in his entire life. He damn near popped a blood vessel a few times.

If Bonnie knew the amount of strength it took for him to not just _take_ what he wanted from her she'd probably have thought twice about being so free around him.

Of course, he's been completely past the point of wanting to hurt her for a long time now and he thinks that when she'd finally started to realize that he was all bark, and no bite when it came to her, it had made it that much easier to respect her boundaries because that meant that she'd actually started to _trust_ him. And she doesn't give trust out freely.

Even though he'd been a little thrown off by it and it had made him think that maybe he was losing his edge, he remembers the first time he'd realized that Bonnie wasn't afraid of him anymore.

They'd been trapped in The Other World for a little over a month at that point and she'd been rummaging through the refrigerator and the cupboards looking for anything to eat but ' _those damn pancakes!"_ and he had been wondering what the hell she'd been complaining for because at least there was _something_ nearby in that God forsaken Hell Hole for her to eat.

He had completely cleaned out the Mystic Falls Blood Bank two weeks ago and had finished his last blood bag six hours ago and things had been getting a little…urgent.

"You know, Bon. I never pegged you as the selfish type. But I guess solitude changes a woman." He tisks.

She slams the cabinet above the stove shut, turning around to face him, frowning. "Damon, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh me?" and he takes a step toward her. "I'm talking about the fact that you _watched_ me finish my last blood bag hours ago and you haven't _once_ offered me a vein since then."

She leans back to rest against the counter top, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Starvation and stupidity must go hand in hand because I _distinctly_ remember reminding you that you were on your last bag _and_ pointing out that the next blood bank is 75 miles from here, to which you rolled your eyes and promptly dismissed it like it was no big deal. So, I suggest you get to driving because if you're expecting me to offer up my wrist, you're in for one _rude_ awakening."

And she turns around to continue searching through the cabinets. Pulling out a package of _Goldfish_ Crackers, eyeing the expiration date, and putting it back.

"Big talk coming from a former witch who happens to be trapped alone with a _fully_ functional vampire."

He speeds over until he's standing right behind her, close enough to feel her body heat radiating off her in waves.

He makes a show of extending his fangs, sliding his tongue over one, then the other when she turns around to face him again.

"What if I don't wanna wait for the offer huh? Who says I can't just _take_ it?" He bends his face down closer to hers and whispers. "By the way…right here…" he runs his index finger down the side of her neck from the shell of her ear and to the sensitive spot where her neck and shoulder meet. "…is my favorite place to feed."

Her breath catches in her throat and she stares at him for a beat. She bites down on her lip…and then she scoffs… _scoffs_ at him, batting his hand away like it's a mosquito.

"Oh please." And she honest to God sounds _bored. "_ Pick me up a strawberry Snapple and Cheeto's on your way back from the blood bank." She says as she squeezes herself out from where he's got her pinned to the counter top and makes her way to the stairs.

And at the time, he'd been deeply offended because, what the fuck? Had he gone _soft?_ Bonnie hadn't even believed for a second that he'd do it. And he wouldn't have, but still, she wasn't supposed to know that.

But he likes to think that he's grown since then, and he looks back at that time like a gift because at that time, their relationship had still been rocky on good days but even then, at a time where he still felt he didn't fully deserve her trust, she had already given it to him.

He felt like falling in love with her was asking for too much. But what was he supposed to do? From the moment he'd laid eyes on her, she'd had him. Neither of them knew it at the time but she was his _forever and always._ Unfortunately, he has no idea how she feels about that.

He grabs his phone and scrolls to her text, opening it and reading over that one line about a thousand times before hitting the button to respond.

_So. Let's talk then._

* * *

* * *

She'd been on her way home from The Grill when she'd gotten the familiar _ding_ to let her know that there's an incoming text waiting for her.

Her chest expands and collapses like an explosion because she knows it can only be from one person.

She waits until she pulls safely into her driveway and puts the car in _park_ before she digs her phone from her purse and opens the text.

_So. Let's talk then._

She sighs. Nothing with Damon is ever easy.

It's only about 11:30pm so its not too late to be making house calls, she guesses. She's not really sure what the hours of operation are for, you know, airing out your deepest feelings to a former nemesis-turned-best friend, but hey, who's keeping track?

She texts back, letting him know that she'll meet him at the Boarding House within the hour and heads into the house to freshen up.

She and Caroline had gone a little _farm animal_ with the fries and a wardrobe change was definitely in order.

As she heads into the house and up to her room she allows herself to _really_ think about what she's about to do.

She's about to go flay herself open, emotionally, to the most emotionally complex man she knows and while she's nervous, she realizes that she's not afraid.

It probably took a lot out of Damon to admit his feelings to her, especially, since he had no idea what her reaction might be. Although, he did act in typical Damon fashion by running away when her answer wasn't _exactly_ what he'd wanted it to be. But she's willing to take partial blame for that since her initial reaction was a little cringy.

And she'd just been taken by surprise, that's all. She's wondering how she missed it. If she looks back, she can't spot any glaring waving flags of any kind. In her mind it was a gradual progression from enemies, to frienemies, to friends.

She'd noticed when he'd started flirting with her and making suggestive comments whenever the opportunity presented but Damon does that with _everybody_ , even Ric has been subjected to Damon's lewd remarks from time to time. That's just Damon.

And when they'd gotten trapped on The Other Side and he'd started feeding her and reading to her and teaching her how to slow dance and staying up with her all night to talk about everything and nothing at all, she'd just chalked it up to the fact that she'd been the only one there. It wasn't as if he'd had a choice in the matter of who he'd wanted to spend his time with.

While the progression of their relationship seems impossible now that she's thinking about where they'd started, at the time, things had just seemed to flow so naturally that she hadn't even had to think about it. She'd fallen into him and he'd fallen into her and they were blindsided. She was blindsided. How did she let this hurricane of a man sneak up on her like that?

*

She pulls up to the Boarding House, freshly showered and dressed in blue jean shorts and a green crop.

The windows of the house stare down at her ominously from her view through her front windshield and she feels like she's reached a crossroad.

Now or never, Bonnie.

She exits her vehicle and makes her way to the front door, huge and looming over her, and before she has a chance to knock, the door swings open. Damon is crowding the doorway, eyes shadowed and giving her nothing to read.

"Hey." She says and he gives her an awkward smile.

"Hi." He steps aside "Come in."

She steps into the foyer and follows him to the sitting room.

"So. How you been?" She asks, taking a seat on the sofa.

"Good. You?" He hesitates for a beat before he takes a seat next to her.

"I'm okay."

She scans the room, hugging her arms around herself. "Where's Stefan?"

He smiles. "He's...around...So. We need to talk?"

Okay, so he's getting right to it then.

"Um. Yeah, I guess." She mentally scolds herself because this is not how she wanted to come off. "Well...firstly, I wanted to apologize for how I reacted the other day. I was just-"

"No. Bonnie, its fine. I didn't really think about my approach and it came off the wrong way. No need to apologize."

"Damon, please. Just let me get this out, Okay?"

He looks at her like he's already mapped out her answer in his head and he's putting up his shields but he nods for her to continue.

She stands, facing away from him, exhales and steels herself.

"Damon. I'm really not sure how we ended up here, you know?" She walks over to the huge bay window and peers out into the back yard, admiring the garden. "I think we were both blind and careless to let this happen."

"Let _what_ happen, Bonnie?"

She feels the air in the room shift as he stands and steps closer to her.

She turns to him, forcing her eyes to meet his own. "This! _Us_! I mean. This is insane!" She steps closer, trying to control her voice. "Lets not forget that you're still in love with my best friend-"

" _Was_! I was in love with your best friend." He shakes his head. "At least I thought I was."

"What do you mean? You _thought_ , Damon?"

"Exactly what it sounds like!" He moves closer to her. "Bonnie. You were never in the cards, Okay? I was too blind and too selfish to see what was right in front of me."

He looks angry and sad and lost, and it rips her apart.

"My eyes are open now. And maybe its too late. And I tried to get rid of it. Talk myself out of it." He smiles but its helpless. "You're kinda impossible to shake, Bonnie."

Her heart clenches in her chest. "Damon..."

He huffs. " Just give it to me straight, Bonnie."

She's quiet for a long moment, reeling in her emotions before she speaks again.

"You were a jerk, Damon...you've made my life a living hell."

He turns his back on her and she watches as he shoves his fingers into his hair.

"I'm not sure how or when this all happened." She continues. "How I let this sneak up on me, But..."

She moves forward, watching the his fingers clench and relax at his sides.

"You were entirely unexpected. You were never on my radar but somehow. Somehow you got under my skin. Made me stronger. And wiser. You made me want. You made me want to strive for my own happiness."

He turns, partially facing her, watching her as she struggles with her thoughts.

"I don't know what happens from here. I don't know if this will all blow up in our face and I don't know if this is all completely wrong."

She watches his jaws clench.

"But what I do know." And she closes the distance between them. Advances on him until their mere inches apart. "What I do know, Damon, is that I can't shake you either. And I don't think I want to anymore."

His eyes go wide, hope flaring.

"I...I love you, Damon." She exhales, letting the weight tumble from her lips. "I love you..."

She doesn't have a chance to breathe before he's on her. Cradling her face like she's the most precious thing he's held.

"Bonnie..." He whispers.

And his mouth is on hers, slanting and opening her up. His tongue teases at the seam of her lips and she opens for him eagerly and willingly.

He moans and her hands fly up to grab at his wrists, her thumbs stroking the smooth, cool flesh there.

He sucks on her tongue and she revels in the warm cradle of his mouth, the way he fits perfectly. The way his fingers slide back into her hair and he pulls her closer still.

He kisses her frantically but remains soft and gentle, feeling her out and enjoying the slick slide of her lips against his own.

Their breath is heavy when they part, readjust and dive back in for more. Bonnie can barely breathe because he's not letting up. He's hungry for it and she just holds on.

They're so lost in mutual bliss that they don't hear the front door open and close.

A startled gasp finally grab their attention and Damon rips his mouth away, breathing heavily against her lips as he peers over her shoulder.

"Elena..."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are y’all still there? I hope so!

Bonnie goes stiff against him as soon as Elena's name leaves his lips and she tries to pull away.

His arms tighten around her waist and she can feel the slight shake of his head where their foreheads are still pressed together. " _No_." He pushes through clenched teeth. His eyes flick behind Bonnie's left shoulder where Elena is standing with her mouth parted, eyes wide. He let's his own eyes fall closed against that image and exhales, tired and heavy, when he feels the fingers Bonnie's got buried in his hair twitch and tighten on the strands at his neck.

"Damon..." She whispers, her breath fanning cool against his face.

"Don't you dare go all... _Bonnie_...about this. We weren't doing anything wrong." He tries to keep his voice low like she had done. But judging by the sound of startled breathing behind Bonnie's back, he failed miserably.

"What exactly _are_ you two doing?

Elena's voice is shaky and strained and Damon wants to roll his eyes because, seriously? Her boyfriend is merely a floor above them and yet she sounds like she's about to have a mental breakdown at the sight of Bonnie kissing him.

Damon tilts his head to peer at her over Bonnie's shoulder, a small grin painting the edges of his mouth. "Well, _Elena_. When two people pucker their lips..." And he makes a show of demonstrating for her.

Bonnie's grip on his hair loosens and her hands slide down to his chest, gripping his shirt there. " _Damon_." She hisses and he just looks down at her with his eyebrows raised, open and unashamed.

" _What?"_ He shrugs.

Sometimes she wishes she could be like Damon in that way. Take what she wants with no remorse and no worry about what someone else would think of her selfishness but she's still not quite there yet.

She's learning, slowly but surely, to put herself first. But it turns out self neglect is a hard habit to break, unfortunately.

She knows Damon has no qualms about flaunting this particular discovery in Elena's face because he's right. Technically, they _weren't_ doing anything wrong. But Bonnie can't help but feel a _little_ guilty because she hadn't had a chance to talk about this with Elena beforehand like she had done with Caroline and she felt that she could at least give Elena the chance to speak her peace about the whole thing.

"Listen...just let me handle this, okay?" She begs.

Her eyes are burning into his and he searches her face for a long moment, no doubt trying to figure out if she's about to back out before they even had a chance to get started, but he eventually gives her a small nod, cradling her face between his hands and planting a quick kiss to her forehead. "I'll be upstairs."

Once Damon is out of the room she finally turns to face Elena. Her hair is shorter. Cut into a long bob, falling just at her shoulders, and she's deeply tanned from her weekend trip with Jeremy to the coast.

When Elena was about ten years old, their dad had surprised the family with an impromptu road trip and they'd ended up having so much fun that they just made a tradition out of it, going every Summer like clockwork. And after their parents had died, Elena and Jeremy just decided to keep up the family tradition on their own.

She knows how emotional Elena gets around this time of year, which is why she'd held off on spilling the beans about this whole thing with Damon. But then everything started to escalate so much faster than she'd expected.

And now they're here. Standing awkwardly and staring at one another.

Bonnie rocks back on her heels, her eyes bounce around the room aimlessly before they land on Elena again. "So...You cut your hair...It looks good."

Elena frowns, obviously not taking the bait because she knows her friend is stalling. "Bonnie...what's going on?"

She eyes her friend, trying to pull the thoughts out of her head, uncover any clue as to how this conversation will unfold, but Elena's face stays neutral, almost unnaturally so. She exhales, nods toward the couch and motions for Elena to join her, having a seat on the middle cushion and crossing her legs.

Bonnie watches her hesitate, almost certain that she's gonna turn tail and run but after a moment of internal debate, Elena readjusts the straps of her purse on her shoulder before making her way over and sitting stiffly beside Bonnie.

She wishes there was a way to get this out without adding more frown lines to her friends face but as she turns words over in her head, discards a few, replaces others with softer or more subtle substitute words and still comes up blank, she basically decides that the only away around this conversation...is through it.

"Okay. So, obviously a lot has happened while you were away, and-"

"Bonnie..." Elena cuts her off immediately. "I've only been gone for _three days._ And to walk in here and find you and _Damon,_ of all people... _kissing?"_ She scoffs. "To call that 'a lot' would be an understatement..." She pauses then, her eyes going darker, more suspicious, as she glares at Bonnie now. "Have you two... _always_ been kissing? Doing it behind my back?"

She almost chokes on her tongue because she really hadn't expected to get straight to the _best friend betrayal_ part. Not immediately, anyway.

Her eyes widen and she shakes her head frantically _. "What?! No!_ Elena...this _literally just_ started happening. And I-" She stops, rewinds and thinks about what Elena just said. "Wait..." she screws up her face. "What do you mean ' _behind your back',_ Elena? You're with Stefan. Or at least you two were together the last time I checked."

Elena is taken aback by that. Thrown for a second as she blinks. "I..I, mean, yeah. Yes. Of course I'm with Stefan. But Bonnie. You know things with Damon and I are...I mean, they _were_. They were complicated." She drops her head and breathes more slowly now. "I just think...I think that _this_ is just going to make things even more complicated."

Why did Bonnie think Elena was going to make this easy? She loves her friend, she truly does. But sometimes, _a lot_ of times, Elena can be extremely self centered and oblivious to anyones emotions but her own. She can't really blame her for it either because ever since she's known Elena, she's watched people fall to their knees for her like it had been a privilege to serve Elena Gilbert.

She can't fault her friend for being overly selfish. But what she _can_ do, is stop letting her get away with it all the time.

She huffs. "Elena. The only reason things are complicated with you and Damon is because _you_ complicated them."

"Wha- I-" She stammers.

"Damon made it _very_ clear that he was interested in you. From day one. _Believe_ me, I noticed. It was _you,_ Elena. He wanted _you._ And it was _you_ who couldn't make her mind up. It was _you_ who bounced back and forth between them, giving him false hope so that you could keep him nipping at your heels."

"That is _not_ true!"

And she can see the shine in her best friends eyes where she's trying to hold back her tears and Bonnie will _not_ let it sway her this time.

"Elena. It's true. Whether it was intentional or not, it's what you did." She scoots closer to her friend. "But you've made your choice. You chose Stefan and I'm very happy for you guys. But you couldn't have thought that Damon was just going to sit on the sidelines forever, right? You knew he'd move on eventually."

Elena tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, shaking her head. "Of course I knew that, Bonnie." One tear escapes her eye and rolls slowly down her cheek, dripping on her bare legs before she has a chance to wipe it away. "But not with my best friend." She whispers.

Bonnie's eyes soften, she rests her hand over Elena's where it sits in her lap, a humorless laugh escaping her lips. "I never expected this either, Elena. Neither did Damon. I mean...now that I look back on it, I guess maybe I can see how it has kinda been building up over the past year or so, but that doesn't make this any less of a shock to us. If you think back on things, you've probably noticed it, even, and just tried to dismiss it the same way he and I did."

Elena chews on her lip. Because, yeah, she noticed when Damon's eyes would linger on Bonnie a little too long. Or when he'd stand so close to her, tight and intimate like he used to only do with Elena. And she'd thought that maybe Damon had just been trying to push Bonnie's buttons, get under her skin. She'd even thought that maybe Damon had been getting soft on Bonnie after a while. But _never_ in her wildest dreams did she ever think Bonnie would go for Damon.

Bonnie is all about following the rules and having a moral code and Damon is the complete opposite of that.

"How?" Elena asks

Again, Bonnie laughs. "I really don't know. I've asked myself that same question about a million times and I still can't come up with a concrete answer." She pauses. "I guess if you actually spend time with a person and _not_ try to kill them, you actually start to like them."

"So...what? You guys are like...a couple now?"

She tilts her head, her eyes shift to the side for a second before meeting Elena's again. "I don't really think there is a word that describes what Damon and I are." She smiles then. "But I do love him. And he loves me."

Elena flinches, almost unnoticeable to anyone who isn't Bonnie. "Wait. _Love?_ You guys are in love now? Seriously?"

And Bonnie gets why the concept of her and Damon falling for each other could be a shock. Out of all the possible scenarios in her life, she would have never imagined this either. But still. It doesn't make the words any less true so when she says, "Yeah, Elena...I'm really in love with him." it's with absolute confidence.

Elena's face is all a mess of _shock_ - _hurt-envy-insecurity_ balled up and fighting for dominance in her eyes and she shakes her head slowly. "I just...I don't believe it."

Bonnie scrunches her eyebrows. "Believe what, Elena?"

"I don't believe that you're actually in love with Damon." She looks into Bonnie's eyes then. "It's...It's impossible." And it's almost like Elena is speaking the words for her own sanity. "Bonnie. You can't possibly think that Damon is right for you." Her voice is getting higher with every word.

Bonnie expected this too. Elena pulling out Damon's rap sheet and reading off all the bad things he's done. Try to build a case against him and give her all the reasons she _shouldn't_ pursue this thing with him and Bonnie's really not in the mood because she's already gone through this same argument in her own head a thousand times over. She knows the things Damon has done. Hell, she was present for the majority of it.

"Elena..." Her voice sounds tired to her ears.

"No. Bonnie, listen. I'm just- I'm trying to look out for you. You know how Damon is. I mean, he's reckless and unpredictable and sometimes dangerous, even-"

"Do you even realize how hypocritical you're being right now? Because he was all of those things when he was smiling in your face too, Elena. And you didn't seem to have a problem with it then, did you? So why now?Because its _me_ instead of you this time?"

Elena goes quiet for a moment and then her eyes soften. "All I'm asking you to do is just stop and _think_ for a second."

"I _have_ thought this over, Elena. I've flipped this thing over and over so many times that my brain has just about exploded!" She exhales. "I thought about how this conversation between the two of us would go and I dreaded it, Elena. I absolutely dreaded having to talk to you about this. Because, yes, I do know that you and Damon have a past and it was messy and hurtful. But the funny thing is, I realized that you're not even all that upset over that part. No...you're upset at the fact that _you're_ not the center of attention anymore."

Hurt flashes in Elena's eyes but Bonnie also sees guilt there, which means that she was probably right about what she said. At least partially, anyway, and Bonnie realizes that dragging this conversation on any longer is pointless.

She squeezes both Elena's hands between her own. "Elena, listen. I know you're trying to look out for me and I love you for that. But. I can make my own choices. I _have_ made my choice and you can't change that, okay?" She sighs. "The purpose of this talk was not to get your opinion _or_ your blessing. I just felt that as your best friend, you had a right to know so that you wouldn't be blindsided by all of it. There's really not much else to be said."

She stands, still gripping Elena's hands. "It's really late and we're both tired. Stefan's probably upstairs waiting for you, anyway."

Elena wants to say more. Bonnie knows she does but this whole day has been exhausting for everybody and she just doesn't have the energy anymore.

"Come on...up." She tugs on Elena's hands and Elena allows her to pull her up to a standing position.

The air between them is tainted and all wrong right now but Bonnie knows in her heart that this is not the type of tension that could end a fifteen year friendship. This is just another bump in their road full of bumps and they'll get through this one too, with a little time. Once Elena's bruised ego has properly healed, they will be thick as thieves again.

She pulls her friend into a tight hug and smiles when Elena holds on to her just as tight.

"I love you, Elena." She whispers against her neck.

"I love you too, Bon."

Eventually they let each other go and Bonnie watches as her friend makes her way up the stairs toward Stefan's room. She waits until she's sure Elena is safely inside before she heads up to find Damon.

* * *

When she opens his bedroom door he's lying in bed on his back, arms crossed behind his head, and he's eying her expectantly.

She smiles shyly, shutting the door quietly behind her and making her way over to his bed. He watches her the entire way. His gaze is so intense that she's burning up by the time she reaches the bed. She climbs up and settles by his hip, crosses her legs in front of her to face him.

He raises his eyebrows, grins. "So? How'd it go? Is my first floor still in tact."

She rolls her eyes. "Oh _please._ Like you weren't listening the whole time."

"Ok, _fine._ " He rolls his eyes playfully.

She looks down, watches her fingers as they play with a lose thread on Damon's blanket, her face suddenly serious.

"Hey..." He tilts his head. "Are...Are you okay?

She nods, tries to smile, but it feels forced, plastered on.

"I can _feel_ you overthinking, Bon. Talk to me." He mostly makes it sound like a normal question and not like he's _begging_ her not to shut him out.

She glances at him quickly before turning her eyes away again, wrapping the thread around her fingers.

"It's nothing, really." She sighs. "I guess I didn't want her to find out like that, you know?" She nudges him with her knee. "And _you_ didn't make the situation any better taunting her the way you did."

He can admit he can be ruthless at times but when it comes to somebody trying to take away anything he loves then he can get a little...a lot defensive. And if he's being honest with himself right now, he really doesn't give a shit if Elena had walked in on him with his face between Bonnie's legs. What he does with Bonnie is between him and Bonnie and it's not his fault Elena doesn't know how to knock. And he'll be damned if Elena ends up being the reason Bonnie walks away from this.

He sits up to rest his back against the headboard so they're more eye level. "Bonnie, listen. I can't say that I'm _sorry_ that Elena walked in on us because I'm not." He holds up a finger when he sees she's about to interrupt him. "I'm not sorry because you probably would have been dragging your pretty little feet on actually telling her." He watches her give him what she thinks is a death glare but her face is entirely too cute for it to even come close. "Just think of it as..." He hums. "Devine Intervention."

She groans and buries her face in her hands. "You're ridiculous."

He chuckles. "Come on Bon, you should be _happy!_ Everybody knows now. We don't have to tip toe around." He pauses and watches as she peeks at him from behind her fingers, a small smile playing on her lips. " _Aaaannd..."_ He adds dramatically. "Now that we've checked everybody off our 'to-do' list, we can finally get to sexy times." He waggles his eyebrows suggestively at her.

She can't help the surprised giggling as she leans forward, slapping playfully at his chest. "You...are...such a _pig_!"

He uses the opportunity and grabs both her wrists, pulling her up and over to straddle him and then looping her arms around his neck once she's seated. He's got her pulled close so that they're chest to chest, breathing each others air.

"I'm _your_ pig. He whispers, brushing their noses together.

She smiles. "Yeah..."She whispers between them. "You are.

Locking her fingers together behind his neck, she pulls him forward those last few inches to catch his lips in a kiss. It's careful at first, soft and exploring. His lips are smooth and cool against her own and she hums against his mouth, unlocks her fingers to slide them around to cradle his face. She feels his arms tighten around her waist and the way he holds her close feels...delicious.

He tilts his head to deepen it. Bites soft kisses into her plump lower lip before slicking his tongue inside and swallowing her moan.

It goes dirty when Bonnie pushes herself closer, shoving her fingers back into his hair and putting him where she wants him. It's wet and hot and she's slowly grinding her hips against him while she sucks on his tongue.

He slides his hands underneath the back of her shirt to get to her skin and it feels so warm against his cool flesh. Her back arches and her breasts are plastered to his chest now. She feels him grinning into the kiss and she nips at his lips playfully in warning.

"Don't get cocky, Salvatore..." She whispers sweetly against his mouth.

He runs his hands slowly up her back and then down again, his fingertips tickle against her spine and she shivers.

"...too late..." he whispers back, his grin going wicked before he dives into her mouth again.

He wasn't sure how far she wanted to take this tonight so he is trying to become acquainted with some form of restraint but now, with her sitting on top of him with her legs bracketing him and her knees squeezing at his hips he's not sure how long that will last.

She makes up her mind for the both of them when he feels her tugging at the hem of his tshirt, her fingernails scraping against his abs as she pulls the shirt up and they separate long enough for her to pull it over his head and toss it to the floor before she's on him again, everywhere. Her hands frantically roam every inch of skin she's uncovered.

"Bonnie... _fuck_..." He groans when she finally releases his lips to suck bruises into his neck and against his collar bone.

He squeezes her hips gently. "Wait...hold on, baby...Hold on." He's panting between words. "Are you sure?..."

She huffs against his throat. "Damon...I have never been more sure about anything in my life." She looks him in the eyes then., her lashes lowered and her pupils blown wide. "I _want_ this..." She breathes. "...I want _you_..."

He watches her closely, cataloguing her heart rate and she lets him take his time guaging her while she strokes her fingers up and down his arms.

And when he doesn't detect a hint of doubt in her, he smiles. A real, ginuine smile and it makes her heart explode.

He lifts her shirt and throws it to the floor with his own and he nearly whimpers when her bare breasts are exposed to him because she's not wearing a bra. Her nipples are hard and pebbled and he can't help but lean down, sucking one into his mouth and circling his tongue.

She throws her head back, moaning and writhing on top of him while he explores her, peppering her chest with gentle kisses and teasing her nipples between his fingers.

Once he's had his fill, he lifts and turns her so that she's flat on the bed now and he's tucked between her thighs.

He can smell her arousal and it makes his fangs itch under his gums. He wants to mark her, officially claim her as his own, forever. The thought makes his hips jerk forward and her mouth falls open on a gasp when she feels the hard press of him against her center.

Her hands are skittering up his arms now, and then she's pulling at his neck, tugging him down for another bruising kiss. He eats at her lips hungrily, frantically, and she takes it all, pulling him closer still. He endulges for a little while longer, biting her bottom lip with blunt teeth before moving down to her neck, licking and kissing her in that sensitive spot he knows she has just behind her ear and she's moaning low and throaty.

He makes his way slowly down her body, mapping every inch of exposed skin he can find with his mouth while she buries her fingers in his hair and writhes under him and when he's reached the waistband of her shorts, he sits back on his knees, admiring her body. The swell of her breasts and down to the flat expanse of her belly.

She whines impatient and reaches for him. "Damon... _please_...

He eyes her under his lashes, his grin is wicked. " _Shhhhh_..."

He works her shorts open with skilled fingers and pulls them down with her panties in one swift motion, licking his lips when her scent smothers him.

For all Damon's impulsiveness and impatience, he eats her like he has all the time in the world. He savors her flavors, tongue teasing over her slit and dipping inside to tease at her entrance and back out again to suckle her clit. He's so good and Bonnie knows she's not gonna last long like this. It's almost too intense, too much.

He's got her legs thrown over his shoulders and when she starts to squirm he uses his hand to press her hips firmly against the bed, holding her there as he tongues her through her first orgasm.

It hits her slow and lazy at first. A warm tingle starting at the tips of her fingers and toes and running throughout her body like elelectricity and then her breath picks up and she's panting heavily when everything hits her at once. A sudden wave of intense pleasure that has her moaning and bucking under the hand Damon still has pressed to her belly.

When she's finally settled, laying loose and sated against the sea of white sheets, he lifts up, licking her juices from his face while he kicks his pants off and onto the floor before crawling up her body and settling between her legs.

She wraps her arms around him as soon as he's back in arms reach, spreads her legs wider to make room for him.

He positions himself right at her entrance and the slick slide of her against the head of his dick has him gritting his teeth, his fists crumple the sheets on either side of her head when he enters her slowly. Sliding inside inch by agonizing inch, until his hips are flush with her own. Her eyes fall closed and she throws her head back, biting her lip. " _Ohhhh my God,_ Damon, _Yes_..."

Distantly, he's aware that they aren't alone in the house but apparently, Bonnie has forgotten that the other people in the house are vampires because the sheer amount of noises tumbling out of her mouth is _obscene_. He bends down to catch her lips in a lingering kiss to quiet her.

She hitches her legs up higher on his waist when he starts to move inside her and she's already so wet. He groans because is hot and tight and she feels so fucking good that he's drunk with pleasure. He pushes deeper, eager to bury himself inside her with long, slow, strokes because he wants this to last. He swivels his hips as he thrusts and she pushes up to meet his hips with her own. Her fingernails dig into his back and his name tumbles from her lips on repeat and he just wants this for the rest of eternity.

Her heels are pressed into his lower back to drive him deeper and he's pressed flush against her, grinding in short, hard thrusts and he's moaning low, babbling nonsense, he knows it, but he can't make it stop.

"Damon...Damon, Yes, right there...right... _please_..."

He can feel her squeezing around him and he knows she's close again. Her hips are stuttering and she's trembling under him, her nails are digging into his back almost painfully now and he wants her cum all over him so bad that he's begging for it.

" _Fuck_ , _fuck_ , _fuck_. Bonnie, do it." His breath is coming out heavy against her chest as he watches her breast bounce with every slam of his hips against her body. "Come for me..."

Her eyes screw up almost like she's in pain and she opens her mouth in a silent plea when her second orgasm takes her.

He hadn't thought he was there yet, willing to draw this out all night but with the way she's clenching around his dick now, he can't hold out. His arms buckle and he grunts as his orgasm takes him by surprise and he makes sure he's buried inside her while he rides them through the aftershocks.

Her limbs fall limp against the bed and he collapses on top of her. He hears her startled _oof_ when his weight knocks the air out of her so he rolls over onto the matress beside ber, dragging her close so that her back is plastered to his front.

He nuzzles his nose in her hair and inhales her scent, revels in the moment. They're both sticky and hot and their hair is all haphazard and he couldn't be happier if he tried.

She interlocks her hand with the one he's got resting over her waist and snuggles into him. "That...was... _amazing_." She breathes.

He squeezes her hand, plants a soft kiss at the base of her neck. "I love you..." He whispers.

She bites her lip, pulls him closer. "I love you more..."

He never imagined he could ever have this. Ever deserve this. All of his life he's had to beg people to love him. Aside from Stefan, the love people have given him has always been conditional. As long as he did exactly what they wanted him to do he could have their love.

But with Bonnie it was as easy as breathing. She never made him feel like he needed to do something for her. He never had to be someone else for her to earn her love. Yeah she called him out on his shit. Yeah she gave him hell all the way. But she never asked him to change who he was. She made him _want_ to be better. She made him _want_ to be worthy of her. And she saw that. She read between the lines and acknowledged his effort. And he gets to hold her and protect her and prove to her that he deserves this. That _they_ deserve this. He will spend every moment of every day that she will have him proving that they deserve this together.

She's breathing softly now and he knows she's close to sleep. He pulls the blankets around them and settles in behind her, letting her warmth and her scent lull him into oblivion.

* * *

She wakes slowly, yawning and stretching her tired limbs. She feels the sun, warm and comforting against her exposed thigh. Her eyes are still closed but the light bounces off her eyelids and she turns her face to bury it in the pillow.

She freezes then, when a familiar scent hits her nose. As all her senses awaken she realizes where she is and what she did last night. The familiar ache between her legs brings it all back and she feels the blush creep up her neck.

She stretches her hand across the sheet and finds it cold and empty where Damon should be and she sits up abruptly, the sheet falling down to pool in her lap, bare breasts exposed to the sun rays shining through the curtains.

She's halfway to letting all kinds of deprecating thoughts creep into her head before she hears the toilet flush in Damon's en suite bathroom. She exhales heavy and lets herself fall back against the pillows, pulling the sheets back up to cover herself.

After a moment Damon comes back into the room, still as naked as he was last night and wearing a self satisfied grin on his face. "Hey sleepy head." He drawls when he catches her eyes.

She bites her lip, turns on her side to face him. "Hey yourself."

He tugs the sheets back and settles back down beside her, pulling her close so they're chest to chest. He buries his fingers in her hair, leans forward and kisses her gently on her forehead before leaning down to look her in the eyes.

"You okay?" He asks, his eyes serious.

She looks at him. He's beautiful. His hair is still a mess, his eyes still lazy from sleep, and his cheeks are still firey red. She smiles. "More than okay."

He grins at her and the world disappears when he bends and captures her lips in a soft kiss before settling down with her on their shared pillow. "Me too..."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok guys. So the story is pretty much finished so this chapter and the next chapter are pretty much extended epilogues. I kinda wanted to dive into the future and just give you guys a glimpse into everyones future and just tie everything up into a nice, happy bow. There's really not much going on here except a bunch of sugary fluff that will probably rot your teeth.
> 
> There is one more chapter after this that I'm still working on, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one!
> 
> Let me know what you think!

 

... _3_ _YEARS_ _LATER_...

The smell of freshly brewed coffee and the steady patter of rain on the rooftop flood his senses as he slowly rouses from his slumber.. He stretches his limbs lazily and hums as he lowers his hand to press his palm against his morning erection straining against the smooth fabric of their red silk sheets. Bonnie's honey scent is still smothering him when he rolls over onto his stomach, burying his face in the pillow on her side of the bed, so he knows she hasn't been awake much longer than he has.

She's much more restless now, not staying idle for long once she's awake. He knows its because she's still trying to get used to the endless energy buzzing through her as a newly turned vampire but he wishes he could pull her against his body now, press her close and feel her ass against his throbbing cock.

He pushes his hips into the mattress, his dick trapped between his belly and the bed, and wills his body to relax. His bladder is calling to be emptied but he's not quite ready to move yet. It's Sunday and they have nowhere to be and he's content to just lie there, bury his nose in the blankets and let their mingled scents and the sound of rain wash over him.

He smells bacon and eggs now and he knows he'll hear the soft patter of her footsteps soon, headed back toward their bedroom to drag him up anyway. But he loves that part. He thinks he'll wait for her. He likes the way she says his name, low and throaty into his ear when she's tired of waiting for him to wake up on his own. " _Damon_... _wake_ _up, baby."_ She'll say against his ear while stroking her fingertips up his back until she reaches for his hair, scratching at his scalp and making him shiver.

They have a routine now and he loves it. He loves the life they've built together over the past three years. It had been a little touch and go at first and he hadn't been sure he could keep her. He'd wanted to whisk her away, build a cottage on an island somewhere and leave Mystic Falls in the dust but she was having none of it. She'd been determined to live a normal life. Go to college, get a job, and work for everything she wanted. No matter how much money Damon threw at her.

He couldn't understand at first why she'd been determined to hold on to that life. Stay in a town where she'd been overlooked and taken advantage of. Where every street corner and landmark held some terrible memory for her. But Bonnie was a different breed. She didn't run from her past or try to bury it under excuses like he had done. She liked to face life head on. Take it by the horns and wrestle her way through it. He'd learned to respect that. After some kicking and screaming he finally got it. He'd finally understood that victory wasn't so sweet unless you had to go through hell to get there.

And he'd had to go through hell to get Bonnie and hold onto her. It had been the best decision he'd ever made. He got the girl. She was _the_ girl. And she was _his_.

If she wanted to make Mystic Falls her home for now, he'd get with the program and stick by her side.

He'd had a house built for her. For them. Right on the edge of town, far enough from the noise and chaos so that they could wake up and hear the birds chirping instead of the sounds of honking horns. They had enough land that Bonnie could plant a football field of flowers and herbs and they'd still have plenty to spare.

The air in the room shifts as she swings the bedroom door open and he rolls over onto his back again, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "I'm up." His voice is rough and gritty.

She chuckles, sauntering over to him. "You don't look up to me." Noticing the bulge in the sheets bunched around his his hips, she grins. "Well...at least part of you is up, anyway."

He licks his lips, his eyes darken as he watches her advance on him. Her black lace underwear and matching bra are partially hidden by the satin robe she's wearing.

"Luckily I happen to know a certain _Witch_ - _pire_ who can take care of it for me" He puts both hands behind his head and wiggles his hips suggestively.

She rolls her eyes but her her gaze is playful when she climbs onto the bed and straddles him, his hands instantly finding her hips. "You know I _hate_ it when you call me that." She bends forward and kisses him. Her lips are warm and he tastes hints of coffee there.

But thats exactly what she was. Bonnie had agreed to let him turn her six months ago. Against his wildest dreams she'd agreed to spend eternity with him. He would have gladly taken the mere seventy years that he would have been granted to live with her. And he would have filled those years with memories he could cherish for the rest his existence, happily by her side until the day she perished. Never would he have been selfish enough to ask her to choose. But as it turned out, Bonnie had taken that burden away from him.

"I want you to make me yours...forever." She'd purred against his lips one night. Sprawled on top of him, naked and sweating and basking in the throws of post coital bliss.

She'd made that same plea to him many times throughout the years. Usually after he'd ridden her through an orgasm. But that time had been different. Her eyes had been dead serious, clear and no bullshitting around.

Hope and fear flared in his eyes as he looked at her. "You... _Bonnie_. You're _serious_." It had been a statement of fact because he had known, deep down in his bones that she hadn't been shooting him another dream.

Devotion. Determination. Pure passion had seeped from her in waves when she nodded, leaned forward and grinned against his lips. "You're my eternal love, Damon."

And so it was. He'd pierced his finger with a fang, she'd swallowed his blood down, eagerly sucking the digit into her mouth and moaning as his essence entered her body.

Matt's blood helped her complete the transition. Him being the only human left inside her tight circle of friends, other than Jeremy, which Damon was having none of.

Ric had moved to Durham with Josette the year before and no one could blame him for wanting to get as far away from Mystic Falls as he could. He'd had twin girls to worry about. Their town wasn't exactly kid friendly. Or human friendly for that matter.

"...and then there was one..." Matt had smiled at her, his big blue eyes dancing when he bent down to embrace her. She'd wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. Her sweet, innocent friend. Willing to do this for her because that's who he was. He wanted to see all of them happy.

"You sure about this, Bon?" Because he had to be sure. And when she'd nodded, grinned and told him, "Absolutely." he was all for it.

Stripping off his Mystic Falls Police jacket and button up, he folded them over the back of the sofa and stepped toward her, left in his black tank top and trousers. "Well...lets get awkward." He quipped, but she could feel his nerves radiating off of him with her already heightened senses.

She'd cradled his face, tilted her head. "I love you, Matty."

He smiled. "I know..."

When she stood up on her toes and sank her teeth into his neck, Damon had been there, standing over Matt's shoulder, to make sure she remained controlled.

She'd only taken from him what she needed. A few quick pulls and then there was no turning back. She'd patched Matt up because he was still wary about using vampire blood as a cure, kissed him on the cheek and bid her goodbyes.

Damon had watched her closely in the first few days after. She had been a natural. Almost faster and more aware of her own strength than he had been in the beginning.

Her enhanced sense of smell and touch seemed to shock her the most. She would spend hours running her fingertips over everything within reach. Reveling in the feel of the textures against her skin. Stretching and purring and rubbing her body against their Italian leather sofa and murmering about how it felt like butter. The silk sheets on their California king sized bed were her idea. The way it tickled against her thighs like feathers when she'd shift underneath him while he buried himself inside her.

The pure freedom she'd felt after her transition was a shock to her. She'd thought she'd feel cold and empty but this wasn't that at all. She was warm and full of life and energy and she felt more powerful than she'd ever felt in her life. It was like she was made for this.

She liked to spar with Damon in their back yard. Her grandmother had told her that she was an Earth witch. And the way the sun and the trees and the flowers would bend toward her and feed her their essence meant that her Grams was right. After her transition she had still felt the phantom pull of nature against her body and she'd thought that maybe it was just muscle memory. Her body still trying to reconnect and hold on to the bond she'd shared with the Earth her entire life as a witch. She'd known it was impossible. You can't be a witch and a vampire at the same time, it was against the rules.

But then one cold winter morning she'd been outside, she and Damon engaged in a heated combat session. It had been 20 degrees but sweat dripped off her in buckets. Her chest had been heaving and she'd fixed Damon with a devious glare as he crouched down and prepared for his attack.

He'd lunged at her, quick and stealthy, and just off of pure instinct alone she'd raised her hands, palms out toward him. " _Volito_." She'd shouted. And she'd frozen in shock as she felt the energy spring from her fingertips and slam into Damon's chest, sending him flying back and away from her and into her garden of hybernating flowers behind him.

His pained groan had vibrated against her ears as he lifted himself up and off the ground, dusting dead leaves and dirt from his sweats.

"That...that can't be possible." She'd muttered almost hysterically. I'm not a witch anymore...how... _how_?"

Damon had just shook his head. Just as wide eyed and perplexed as she had been.

Slowly, she'd made her way over to him and dropped to her knees on the edge of her garden and he had held his breath as he watched her stretch her arms out, palms up, and cradle one of the withered flowers. He'd listened as she chanted the spell and his breath hitched as he watched the flower come to life. Brilliant and more beautiful than it had been that past Spring.

"Damon...what is this?" she'd breathed.

He'd had no idea. And after that, they'd scoured and combed through every resource they had to try to come up with any explanation and found nothing. No one had ever heard of a Witch/Vampire hybrid and they were all amazed.

Damon, on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all because like everything else in her life, Bonnie defied the rules. She'd resisted what was already written and made her own path. She was the exception. She had rewritten history and become the first ever vampire to hold on to her juju.

She wiggles her hips on top of him and he moans. "So what is a Bonnie approved term for ' _beautiful_ _freak_ _of_ _nature_ _witchy_ _vamp_ _hybrid'_ , huh?" He lifts his brow and uses the grip he has on her hips to press her down harder against him. The friction between their clothes and his still hard cock making her eyes flutter when she bites her lip.

"Hmmm...I guess I've never really gave it much thought." She quips. "I guess I'm a real life unicorn." Her mouth tips up in a crooked grin when her eyes meet his.

He slides his hands up her back to pull her down until they're nose to nose. "My little Unicorn." He leans up and takes her bottom lip between his teeth, running his tongue back and forth before releasing her. "I like it."

She giggles against his mouth. "It does have a nice ring to it."

His hands are making their way down her back and up to the curve of her ass and she knows he wants her. She circles her hips, pushing her ass back into his grip and urging him along.

He groans. "You're _evil_..."

The way she smiles at him makes his belly drop. "Oh...not necessarily..." And she slithers her way down his body, taking the sheet and his pajama bottoms with her.

She takes him into her mouth, the velvet heat of her tongue slides down his shaft until he hits the back of her throat.

"Oh fuck..." He groans.

Her lips close around him and he feels it in his toes when she opens her throat and swallows around him. She moans when he twitches in her mouth and she starts to twirl her tongue back and forth against the thick vein on the underside of his dick while she bobs her head up and down his length.

He grips the pillow under his head with both hands, trying to force his hips to stay planted against the bed and not thrust up to shove himself deeper down her throat.

She knows him now, knows how to get him there fast with her tongue teasing against that little bundle of nerves right under the head and then sliding up further to lick at the slit at the tip of his dick, effectively sending electric shocks up his body and down his spine.

"Fuck...I'm gonna come..." He grits out.

She doubles her efforts, sucking eagerly at the head and pulling his orgasm from him. He throws his head back and feels her moan as he releases into her mouth. She swallows it down and makes sure to lick every spilled drop from his spent dick before she crawls up his body and sticks her tongue in his mouth. She kisses him hungrily and he groans, burying his hands in the hair at her nape.

"What are you _doing_ to me, woman?" He mutters against her lips.

She leans back far enough to see his eyes, the look on her face is faked innocence. "I have no earthly idea of what you're talking about, Mr. Salvatore."

"Is that so?" His grin goes devilish and then he flips them, pins both arms above her head with one of his hands before tickling her. She yelps, high pitched and surprised, bucking under him and giggling uncontrollably. She knows she can probably free herself without much trouble but she enjoys this. So she plays along.

"Okay! okay! I give!" she heaves through labored breaths. "I hypnotized you! I used my magical abilities to make you fall madly in love with me!"

He halts, his fingers freeze against her ribs and he fixes her with a satisfied grin. " _And_?" he urges.

She huffs, tries again with half effort to wriggle free of his grasp but he holds her fast. She finally relents and gives him what he wants. " _And_...I've had the hots for you since the day I laid eyes on you." And her voice is bored and monotone like this has been something he's been trying to force her to admit to for years.

"Ha! I _knew_ it!" He breathes into her face before releasing her and rolling over to rest behind her on the bed.

"You're such an ass." She giggles, snuggling up to him with her back to his chest.

He hums, burying his nose in the crease between her neck and shoulder. "Speaking of ass..." He mumbles against her skin and smiles when he feels her shiver against his firming cock between her buttocks.

She wiggles her hips and he tightens his arm around her waist. "You're _insatiable_..." She whispers.

He presses his mouth to the skin of her neck. "I'll never get enough of you.

She bites her lip. "Damon...come on, babe. We have to get up." Her voice is breathy and she tilts her head, giving him better access to the long expanse of skin at her throat.

"But _why?"_ He whines.

" _Because_...Damon." She tries to shimmy out of his grasp but he's not letting up. "Stefan and Elena will be here at noon, remember? And you need to shower. You stink."

She feels his body shake behind her when he chuckles. "You didn't seem to think so when you had your face buried in my manly bits."

He huffs, dipping his head to rest against her shoulder when she digs her elbow into his ribs. "Watch it...or my face won't be going anywhere _near_ your manly bits for a while, Mister. Now move, I gotta go finish breakfast."

She's finally able to lift up and out of bed and when she turns to face him he's wearing the most ridiculous pouty face. "Aww, my poor baby." She leans down and pecks him on the lips before backing away toward the door. "Now get up, lazy man. If you're not showered and at the table in twenty minutes I'm gonna spell you bald."

His glare would be murderous to a lesser woman. She grins. "Try me..." she warns him before she turns and heads back to the kitchen.

* * *

At 18 minutes and 34 seconds he saunters into the kitchen, his hair damp and pushed back off of his face. He's wearing dark denim and a black V-neck tee, feet still bare.

She raises a knowing brow his way as she pops a fresh strawberry into her mouth where she's standing at the kitchen island.

"Shut it." He says, making his way over to the table and pulling out the chair in front of his plate, already prepared and waiting for him next to a warm cup of blood laced coffee.

He tears off a piece of butter toast between his teeth as he peers out onto the balcony. Bonnie had opened the folding glass doors because she's always loved the smell of new rain.

"I'm excited to see Elena again." She speaks softly, coming over to sit on his lap. "What's it been? Almost three years, huh."

He hums, watches her steal a piece of toast from his plate.

Stefan and Elena had moved away just a few months after he'd made things official with Bonnie.

He'd proposed to Elena right before she'd gotten accepted onto the NYU School of Medicine and they'd decided to have a small wedding at the Boarding House before packing up and moving to the Big Apple.

The Boarding House ended up empty and after that and it was either turn it into a Haunted House or let Caroline turn it into a Bed and Breakfast. Damon was leaning more toward Haunted House but of course Caroline won the popular vote and it had proven quite lucrative.

She'd recruited some of the culinary students from the Mystic Falls Community College to come in and work the kitchen and Tyler would help her out on the weekends when he wasn't managing his pack in the Appalachian mountains.

Tyler had become Alpha after Klaus moved to New Orleans and he'd taken his position seriously. Caroline didn't mind. She didn't completely understand the dynamics of the wolf pack or the total and unwavering dependence they had to their leader, but she respected the fact that Tyler couldn't be home with her as much as she'd like.

Their home base was Mystic Falls. Caroline wasn't sure if she'd ever leave her hometown. She hadn't really had a reason to. Her life was good there. She kept the house after her mother passed and she couldn't ever see herself letting it go and managing the Bed and Breakfast was providing more than enough money to manage. She liked her life in Mystic Falls. She liked her life with Tyler. She was happy.

Bonnie being there was a bonus. It had taken a while for her to get used to the fact of her an Damon, but she couldn't ignore the way they'd changed each other for the better. Bonnie tamed Damon and Damon helped Bonnie blossom. She hated to admit it at first but they were good for each other. And as crazy as it seems, Caroline considers Damon as a friend now and she couldn't imagine her life any different. She wouldn't change a thing about it.

They were her family. And she loved them both...

"Hey! I thought this was supposed to be my breakfast!" Damon gripes, snatching his toast from Bonnie's fingers.

She giggles, kisses him on his cheek and heads back over to the kitchen to gather up the dirty dishes. " You snooze, you lose, buddy." She smirks at him, glances at the time on the microwave above the stove. "Did you make up the spare bedroom?"

"Shit." He shoves the last pieces of bacon into his mouth before standing to carry his plate to the sink, watching her glare ar him the entire way.

"Chill, I'm taking care of it." He leans down and catches her lips in a quick kiss before heading down the hall in search of fresh linen.

* * *

She hears Stefan's car pull up just as she's finishing the dishes. Drying her hands on a dish towel, she goes to meet him in the foyer.

Her smile is big and bright when she sees him. "Hey stranger."

His answering smile is warm when he leans down, plants a kiss to the corner of her mouth before grabbing her up into a tight hug. "I missed you." He whispers into her hair. "How are you?"

She tucks her face into the crook of his neck. "I'm good. Great, actually." She frowns when she notices only one suitcase sitting by the front door behind him. "Where's Elena? I thought she was coming with."

He glances behind him at his abandoned luggage before turning back to her. "Oh. She had to work late at the hospital. She'll be in later on tonight though."

His eyes soften and he grins at her when she pouts. "I know. Its been too long since you've seen her. She'll be here soon, promise." He grins, gives her a once over. "A creature of your caliber should _not_ be pouting." He steps back to get a better look at her. "Damn, Bonnie, immortality suits you."

She ducks her head when she feels her cheeks flame. "You Salvatores. Always the charmers."

He chuckles. "Speaking of..." He glances around. "Where is Damon, anyway?"

"Oh..check the bedroom, he's probably lounging back there somewhere."

He nods, kisses her once more on her cheek before heading in the direction of the hallway. He pauses, turns back to her. "Hey...uh. Can I-?"

She cuts him off "Bourbon. Neat?"

"Woman after my own heart." He smiles at her before turning and heading in search of his brother.

He finds Damon rummaging through the closet in the spare bedroom. "Hello, Brother."

"What the hell took you so long." Damon gripes, his back still to Stefan as he bends down to rummage through a big cardboard box toward the back of the closet. "Where the hell did I...bingo!" He snaps his fingers when he finds what he's looking for in the bottom of the box before finally turning to face Stefan. "You were supposed to be here at twelve."

"I missed you too, Damon." He grins. "Is that it?" He gestures at the littke black box clutched between Damon's fingers.

His eyes flick to the door behind Stefan and he focuses his ears. The steady flow of water in their Master bath tells him that Bonnie's in the shower. He hands the box to Stefan and shoves his fists into his pockets.

Stefan eyes his brother affectionately before opening the box to reveal a 29 carat diamond cut engagement ring. "Damn." Stefans mouth drops when he sees the size of the ring.

"Really Stefan?" Damon huffs. "I FaceTimed you three weeks ago to approve it."

"Your camera didn't really do this justice." He holds the box up, watches the light bounce off of the diamond. "When Elena sees this I'm gonna have to buy her a new one."

Damon chuckles. "I've always been better at romance, brother. Everyone knows."

Stefan closes the ring box, passed it back to Damon. "Can't argue that. So when are you gonna pop the question?"

Damon goes to sit on the edge of the bed, exhales and brushes his hair off his face. "I dunno? I was thinking at dinner tomorrow night?" He looks at Stefan, his eyes are full of nervous energy.

Stefan moves to stand in front of his brother. "Damon...she'll love it. Hell, she'd probably take a plastic ring from a Cracker Jack box. Bonnie loves you."

Damon exhales. "I know...I just. I can't believe I got her. I mean...who would be insane enough to love me? Bonnie, for Gods sake." He shakes his head.

Stefan smiles at his brother, squats so he's at eye level with him. " You underestimate your appeal, Damon."

"Shut up, Stefan." He shoves his brother so that he tips back, fully on the floor. "You're such a fucking girl." He stands up and heads out of the room. "Welcome home, brother." He throws over his shoulder before he shuts the door behind him.

Elena arrives just before midnight and Bonnie's already asleep. "You boys burning the late night oil, I see." She announces when she steps into the sitting room, dropping her bags to the floor. Stefan gets up off of the couch where he's lounging next to Damon to greet her with a kiss. She welcomes his mouth hungrily.

"Ugh! Get a fucking room, would ya?" Damon groans.

Elena chuckles against Stefan's mouth, gives him another quick kiss before making her way over to Damon, he leans up when she leans down to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm happy to see you too, Damon."

Elena had avoided him in the first few months after she'd found out that he and Bonnie were a thing. He hadn't minded too much, he'd understood that she'd needed her space. She'd needed time to get used to all of it. They'd all had. And even though Stefan hadn't made too much of a fuss about it, Damon had known he'd felt uneasy with Elena's mood. Damon had known that Elena didn't want him in a forever type of way. He'd known that Elena was just adjusting to the fact that she didn't have to walk on eggshells with Damon's feelings anymore. She didn't know how to handle the fact that she could love Stefan freely and openly without the fear of driving Damon into a murderous rage.

After a little time things just started to fall into place. Damon was secure in his relationship with Bonnie, and Elena got on board with it all. She'd devoted herself to Stefan and they'd been happier that he'd ever seen them. It was almost like a dream at first, impossible. No way could they all be happy like this, together. He'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop, another wrench in the plan to take it all away from them. And when that didn't happen after a year...and then two years...and then on the third year he'd finally accepted that he could have this life. He endulged happily.

The next day they'd all had breakfast together. Caught up on the years they'd missed being apart in their own seperate lives.

Elena would be starting her first year residency at Mount Sinai hospital in New York in the fall and Bonnie was finishing up her degree in Public Relations at Whitmore.

All in all...life was great.

Later that night, they'd all been getting ready for dinner and Stefan couldn't help but notice Damon's nervous jitters. Stefan hadn't even told Elena about Damon's plan to propose to Bonnie because he couldn't be sure that she wouldn't spill the beans so while everyone looked at Damon with the side eye and wondered why he was being so damn awkward, Stefan just grinned and chuckled as he patted his brother on the back as they made their way out to the car.

When they'd pulled up at The Roosevelt Bistro, Bonnie's favorite restaurant, Bonnie squinted her eyes at him, a calculating look on her face, but she'd remained quiet when he opened her car door for her and escorted her inside.

Reservations were almost impossible to get at this place but when they'd reached the front desk, the concierge just smiled brightly and greeted them. "Ciao, Mr. Salvatore!" His Italian accent strong and heavy. "You look well." He steps from behind the desk, grabbing Damon's hand before kissing him on one cheek, then the other before stepping back.

"As do you, Alessandro." Damon greets him warmly. "How are Sofia and the kids?"

"They're beautiful sir, absolutely beautiful." He glances over to Bonnie and his eyes sparkle. "Oh, Ms. Bennett." He leans in and kisses her on the cheek. "You are a sight for sore eyes. I see Mr. Salvatore is taking great care of you."

Bonnie blushes heavily, leans into Damon's side. "Yes. Yes he is, Alessandro. And you're a pleasure as always."

Alessandro laughs, full and hearty before gesturing to the main dining area. "Your usual table sir. Right this way."

They all follow him toward the back of the restaurant to a small private table in the corner next to a huge window with a view of the city line.

Damon and Bonnie slide into the booth and Elena and Stefan take the booth across from them. Alessandro pulls out his notepad. "The usual?" He raises his brow, grinning at Damon.

"Yes, thank you." Damon nods.

"Ms. Bennett, you as well?"

Bonnie nods.

"One mushroom sausage ragu and one tomato bread soup coming up." Alessandro scribbles on his pad before turning to Stefan and Elena. "And for you two beautiful people?"

After he takes their orders he disappears into the kitchen.

"This place is nice Bon." Elena says, glancing out of the window next to her. "And the view of the city from here is _beautiful_."

"Damon brought me here on our first official date." She bumps him lightly with her shoulder. "And I've been in love with it ever since."

Elena smiles as she watches Damon squirm in his seat. "I can see why. This place is so cozy and romantic."

Stefan hums his agreement.

They order a bottle of red wine and endulge in their meals when they arrive. They're all quiet, save for the appreciative moans as they savor their meals.

It all feels so warm. So safe. They're all together again and they aren't fighting some monster or trying to save a life. They get to just sit and be happy and enjoy each others company and it feels good. So good.

Damon eyes Stefan, rubbing his sweaty hands against his trousers. Stefan shoves his foot up against Damon's underneath the table and when Damon gives him eye contact again, Stefan gives him a reasuring nod.

Damon licks his lips before he reaches into his jacket pocket and clutches the ring box between his fists. He glances at Bonnie who's engrossed in conversation with Elena and he exhales.

"Um...Bonnie?" He cuts her off mid sentence and she glances at him. The tone in his voice visibly making her tense.

"Yeah, babe?" She says, frowning.

"I. Um..."

He feels Stefan nudge the toe of his shoe where his foot is still shoved against his own under the table and he jumps, coughs before restarting.

"Okay..." He grabs Bonnies hand before sliding out of the booth and pulling her forward before dropping down to one knee. He hears her breath hitch and he feels the burn of Stefans eyes and Elena's eyes and it makes him feel hot all over.

He licks his lips again, looks her directly in the eye. "Bonnie. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were special. And at the time, I hadn't realized how much of a gift you had been. How much of a gift you would be to me. We got off to a rough start and it was Hell at first, to say the least." He grips her hand tighter. "We fought. I made you cry. You made me angry. We've tried to kill each other a thousand times." He pauses, watches as a tear escapes her eye. "But the most important thing here is. Is that you made me _feel_ again. For the good, you made me reach inside myself. You helped me find _me_ again. I've been lost for so long, Bonnie. I've been looking for that man I used to be before I let this world and my misguided quest for love take that away from me. And then you show up. In all your stubborn glory and you knocked me right on my ass, Bonnie." She chuckles wetly, wiping another falling tear from her face. He can tell Elena's crying too, the smell of her tears mingling with Bonnie's. "You've been my moral compass." He continues. "You didn't force me to do anything I didn't want to do. You didn't force me to be anyone I didn't want to be. You simply opened my eyes. You made me feel worthy of being a better version of me. You helped me realize that I deserved better than second place. And although I'm still perplexed on how I actually got you, I'm eternally grateful that you chose me. And I want to be by your side every day, every hour, every minute, every second, as long ad you'll have me...proving how thankful I am that I found you. That we found each other." He lifts the box up and opens it. Bonnies hand flies to her mouth, her eyes go wide.

" _Jesus_." Elena whispers.

"Bonnie Bennett...would you do me the honor of being my wife?"

Everyone is holding their breath. Elena has a white knuckled grip on Stefan's arm and Stefan had gone statue still in the booth next to her. Damon can feel the eyes of the entire restaurant boring into his back as he chews on his lip awaiting Bonnie's response.

"I..." She exhales heavily, her hands shaking and she's trying hard to blink the tears out of her eyes. "Yes...yes, Damon...Absolutely, yes." She breathes.

"Yeah?" He huffs, his eyes still unbelieving.

"Of course, you idiot! Get up here and kiss me!"

When he smiles, the moon is _nothing._ Everything else fades away when he stands, slides into the booth again before cradling her face and kissing her hungrily.

Diststantly they can hear Stefan and Elena whooping and cheering in the booth across from them, the whole restaurant clapping behind them. He grins against her mouth and leans back, plucking the ring from the box and sliding it onto her finger.

"Here's to forever..." He whispers.

"Forever..." She smiles before leaning in again and capturing his lips.


End file.
